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Bulletin No. 20. 






U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 

DIVISION OF BOTANY. 



PRINCIPAL POISONOUS PLANTS 



OF 



THE UNITED STATES. 



V. K. CHESNUT. 




WASHINGTON: 

GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE. 



1898. 




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Bulletin No. 20. 



U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 

DIVISION OF BOI'ANY. 



94. 



PRINCIPAL POISONOUS PLANTS 



THE UNITED STATES, 



v.'k. chesnut. 




WASHINGTON: 

GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE. 
1898. 

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MAR 31 19Ca 



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LETFER OE TRANS]\nTTAL 



U, S. Department of Agrioultube, 

Divit^ioN OF Botany, 
Washington, I). C, December .?(), 1897. 

Sir: I liave tlie lioiior to trausniit liorewitli for publication as a 
bulK'tin of this division a mauuscript ou the "Principal Poisonous 
Plants of the United States." In the annual report of the Botanist for 
1894 was emphasized the importance of doing something to lessen the 
increasing number of fatal cases of poisoning due to carelessness or to 
a lack of correct knowledge of our poisonous plants, and as a result the 
Secretary of Agriculture, in ISTovember, 1804, ^appointed Mr. Y. K. 
Chesnut as an assistant in the Division of Botany to take charge of 
such a line of work. In addition to the chemical and physiological 
investigations which have since been in progress, it has seemed desira- 
ble to distribute at once some simple but authoritative accouut of our 
commonest poisonous plants. In the prosecution of this work a novel 
method of securing correct information about actual cases of i)oisoning 
has been adopted. Through newspaper clii)ping bureaus the Division 
of Botany receives notices of all the cases of ])oisoning that are recorded 
in the principal newspapers. Then, through the jiersons mentioned 
by name in these articles or through the local postmaster, we get into 
corresiiondence with the physician in charge of the case, secure a speci- 
men of the plant which is resi)onsible for the poisoning, and place ou 
file a complete record of the symptoms, treatment, and results. By 
this means we have secured a large amount of authentic and valuable 
information, additional to the published statements, the partial benefit 
of which is given to the i^eople in this i)ublication, and the remainder 
of which will be used from time to time in more detailed i^ublications 
on the poisonous qualities of i^irticular plants. 

The plants which have been considered, about fifty in number, include 
most of the important poisonous species. Each is illustrated, wherever 
necessary, by an original drawing from authentic specimens, and is 
briefiy described in a popular way. This, together with the liberal 
use of common names and a brief outline of the geographical distri- 
bution, will doubtless enable individuals in different localities to recog- 
nize any of the plants. For general educational purposes it has been 
thought best to follow the scientific classification. 

3 



It is the puri)ose of the Division of Botany to collect statistics and 
general inl'ormatiou relating to all of the poisonons plants of the 
United States, and so far as possible to examine into their chemical 
and physiological properties and to discover their antidotes. With 
this end in view, it is hoped that the heartiest cooperation will be 
received from all those who are able to render assistance. 

Kespectfnlly, Frederick Y. Coville, 

Botanist. 
Hon. James Wilson, 

Secretary of Agriculture. 



CONTENTS, 



Page. 

Introduction 9 

Gill fnnoi ( A^aricaceae) 11 

Deadly amanitas ( Aiuauita) 11 

Fly amanita (Amanita mitscaria) (illustrated).. 12 

Deatli cup {Amanita phalloidea) (illustrated).. 14 

Bunch-flower family ( Melanthaceae) 16 

Ameiican false hellebore ( Veratrum viride) (illustrated) . . 16 

Lily of the valley family (Convallariaceae) 18 

Lily of the valley ( Con vallaria majalis) (illustrated ) . . 18 

Orchid family (Orchidaceae) 19 

Lady's slipper (Cypripedium) 19 

Showy lady's slipper ( CypripedUim reginac) (illustrated) . . 19 

Larger yellow^ lady's slipper {Ci/pripedium hirsutum) . . .(illustrated).. 20 

Smaller yellow lady's slipper ( Cypripedium parvifloriim) 20 

Pink family (Alsinaceae) 21 

Corn cockle {Agrostentma fiithai/o) (illustrated) . . 21 

Crowfoot ftxmily (Kauunculaceae) 22 

Aconite (Aconilnm cohimhiannm) (illustrated).. 22 

Larkspur ( Delphinium) 23 

Dwarf larkspur (Delphiniitm tricorne) (illustrated) . . 24 

Larkspur ( Delphiniuni geyeri) 24 

Larkspur {Delphinium 7ne7icie8ii) 25 

Larkspur ( Delphinium recurratum )...'. 25 

Larkspur (Delphinium troUiiJ'oUum) 25 

Plum family (Prunaceae) 26 

Black cherry ( Prunus serotina) (illustrated) . . 26 

Senna family (Caesalpiniaceae) 28 

Kentucky cotfee tree ((rymnocladus ilioica) (illustrated).. 28 

Pea family (Papilionaceae) 29 

Woolly loco weed (Astragalus jnollissimus) (illustrated) . . 29 

Stemless loco weed (Aragallus lamhertii) (illustrated) . . 30 

Rattlebox (Crotalaria sagittalis) (illustrated).. 31 

Spurge family (Euphorbiaceae) 32 

Spurge (Euphorbia) 32 

Caper spurge (Eupliorhia lathyris) (illustrated) . . 33 

Snow on the mountain (Euphorbia marginata) (illustrated) . . 34 

Sumac family ( Anacardiaceae) 35 

Poison ivy, poison oak, poison sumac (Rhus) 35 

Poison ivy (L'hus radicans) (illustrated) . . 35 

Poison oak (Rhus diversiloha) (illusti-ated).. 36 

Poison sumac (Rhus vernix) (illustrated) . . 36 

Buckeye family (Sapindaceae) 39 

Red buckeye (Aesculus pavia) (illustrated) . . 39 

5 



6 

Page. 

Carrot family (Apiaceae) 40 

Water hemlock ( Cicuta macidata) (illustrated) . . 40 

Oregon water hemlock {Cicuta vagans) (illustrated).. 41 

Poisou hemlock ( Conium maculatum) (illustrated) . . 43 

Heath family (Ericaceae) 44 

Broad-leaf laurel (Kalmia latifoUa) (illustrated) . . 44 

Narrow-leaf laurel {Kalmia angustifolia) (ilhistrated) . . 46 

Great laurel ( Rhododendron maximum) (illustrated) . . 47 

Stagger hush ( Pieris inariana) (illustrated) . . 48 

Brauch ivy ( Leueothoe cateshaei) (illustrated) . . 48 

Logania family (Loganiaceae) 48 

False jessamine ( Gelsemium sempervirens) (illustrated) . . 48 

Potato family (Solanaceae) - 48 

Jimson weeds (Datura) 49 

Jimson weed {Datura stramonium) ( illustrated) . . 49 

Jimson weed ( Datura tatula) 50 

Nightshades (Solanum) 51 

Black nightshade ( Solanum nigrum ) (illustrated) . . 52 

Bittersweet {Solanum dulcamara) (illustrated) . . 53 

Spreading nightshade {Solanum triHorum) (illustrated) . . 53 

Sunflower family (Carduaceae) 54 

Sneezeweed {Helenium autumnale) (illustrated) . . 54 



ILLUSTRATIONS. 



Page. 

Fig. 1. Fly amanita ( Jmani/« muscaria) 12 

2. Death i-np ( Amatiita phaUoidvs) 15 

3. False helleltore ( J'eratrum viride) 17 

4. Lily of tbe valley ( Convallaria majalis) 18 

5. Showy lady's slipper ( Cifprijmlium reginae) 19 

6. Larger yellow lady's slipper ( Cypripedium MrsHtum) 19 

7. Corn c-ockle {AgrosUmma githaf/o) 21 

8. Aconite (Acoiiitiim columhianinn) 23 

9. Dwarf larkspur ( Delphinium Iricorne) 24 

10. Black cherry {Pruniis serotina) 27 

11. Kentucky coffee tree ( Gymnodadus dioica) 28 

12. Woolly loco weed {Astragalus molUssimns) 29 

13. Stemless loco vreed (Aragallus lanihertii) 30 

14. Rattlebox (Crotalaria sagiitalis) 31 

15. Caper spurge (Euphorbia Jathyris) 33 

16. Snow on the mountain {Euphorbia marginata) 34 

17. Poison ivy {lihus radicans) 35 

18. Poison oak ( Rhus diversiloba) 36 

19. Poison sumac {Bh us remix) 37 

20. Red buckeye {Jiscuhis jKuv'a) 39 

21. Water hemlock ( Cicuia maculaia) 40 

22. Oregon water hemlock ( Cicuia vagans) 41 

23. Poison hemlock {Couinm maculatum) 43 

24. Broad-leaf laurel ( Kalmia latij'olia) 45 

25. Narrow-leaf laurel {Kalmia angustifoUa) 46 

26. Great laurel ( Rhododendron maximum) 46 

27. Staggerbush ( Pieris mariana) 47 

28. Branch ivy {Leucothoe catesbaei) 48 

29. False jessamine ( Gelsemium sempervirens) 48 

30. Jimson weed ( Datura stramonium ) 50 

31. Black nightshade {Solanum nigrum) 52 

32. Bittersweet {Solanum d\ilcamara) 53 

33. Spreading nightshade {Solanum trijlorum) 54 

34. Sneezeweed {Helenium autumnale) 55 

7 



PRINCIPAL POISONOUS PLANTS OF THE 
UNITED STATES. 



INTRODUCTION. 

In view of the frequent results of ignorance with regard to poisonous 
plants, whether the occasional loss of human life, the large sacrifice of 
animals, and the consequent financial loss, or the annoyance and dis- 
tress of countless minor cases of human poisoning, it is remarkable 
that no systematic treatise has been published concerning those that 
exist in the United States. 

Statistics in regard to them are lacking on account of a general 
ignorance of the subject, and it is therefore impossible to form even an 
approximate estimate of the amount of damage done by them. The 
various species of water hemlock (Cicuta) kill a number of children 
each year. In the State of New Jersey two quadruple cases of water 
hemlock poisoning were reported during the spring of 1896, which 
resulted fatally to two of the eight individuals affected. The number 
of cattle killed by one species of Cicuta in Oregon alone is estimated 
to be over one hundred per annum. The number of deaths among 
cattle which are attributed to loco weed is very large, and to rid itself 
of this pest the State of Colorado paid out nearly $200,000 in bounties 
between March 14, 1881, and February 18, 1885. On the latter date 
the law was repealed. The distress caused by poison ivy is being 
constantly exi^erienced by thousands of individuals. 

Setting aside the criminal uses of poisonous i^lants, there are some 
other legal problems connected with them which are of general public 
interest. The common law of England holds a person responsible for 
damage accruing from the possession and cultivation of poisonous plants. 
In one case, for example, a jury rendered judgment in favor of a plain- 
tiff whose horse was poisoned from eating branches of a yew which 
hung over a fence from an adjoining yard. A similar judgment for 
$3,500 has recently been rendered by a New York court against the 
directors of a cemetery in a case of poisoning due to poison ivy which 
had been allowed to grow within the grounds. 

All poisonous plants are not equally injurious to all persons, nor to 
all forms of life. The most familiar illustration of this is to be found 
in the action of poison ivy. It has no apparent external effect upon 
animals, and a few of them, such as the horse, mule, and goat, eat its 

9 



10 

leaves with impunity. It acts upon the skin of the majority of persons 
but with varying intensity. Many people are probably wholly immune, 
but some lose their resistant power in middle life; others have been 
known to attain immunity from it to a very considerable degree. There 
is a similar variability in the effects of poisonous plants taken internally. 
The qualifications involved in a definition of a [)oisonous plant are 
numerous, and can not well be introduced into this report. It may 
suffice here to say that death in some cases is attributable not to any 
poison which the plant contains, but to immoderate or incautious eating, 
or to mechanical injury, such as is produced in horses by the hairs of 
crimson clover, which under certain conditions accumulate in large balls 
and obstruct the intestines, or to the effect of parasitic growths, such 
as ergot occurring on rye. Neither the clover nor the rye is poisonous. 

Excluding all wliich operate in these ways, there is, however, a large 
number of really poisonous plants whose ]»roperties are comparatively 
unknown. Information relating to them is obtainable only from the 
most diverse sources. Cases of poisoning are described in medical 
journals, communicated by farmers, or simi)ly alluded to in newspapers, 
and are traceable only through correspondence or personal inspection. 
Kecords of chemical analyses and toxicological experiments are scat- 
tered through all kinds of literature. Additional reason for the preva- 
lent ignorance in regard to these plants is to be found sometimes in 
tlieir limited geographical range, and sometimes in the uncertainty and 
often opposite results obtained by unscientific experiments. 

In this bulletin it has been found impossible to give an adecjuate 
treatment of all of our poisonous plants. Those cultivated in gardens, 
such as the oleander {Nerium oleander)^ mezereon {Daplmc mezereum), 
foxglove {Digitalis ptirpnrea), and the species of Narcissus, have been 
omitted, as have those wild plants whose poisonons qualities have not 
been investigated at some length. In the latter category are the cock- 
leburs [Xanthimn sjnnosum, X. strumarium, and A', canadcnse), sleepy 
grass {Stijya riridnla rohusta), elder {Sambucus canadensis), pimpernel 
{AnagalUs arvensi's), and Labrador tea {Ledum groenlandicum). The 
limit of space has precluded a more extended treatment of many species, 
and cut out altogether many of the'fieshy and all of the parasitic 
fungi. 

The matter loresented in tbis bulletin has been obtained in part from 
published articles or treatises, but most of it has not heretofore been 
printed. Besides the direct information secured through correspond- 
ence with medical men, scientists, farmers, and others interested in 
cases of poisoning, considerable information has been obtained from 
personal observation and experiment. The writer has had constant 
recourse to the valuable treatises of Cornevin, Blyth, Kobert, I3am- 
mann, Millspaugh, White, and Van Hasselt; to the numerous articles 
found in the various botanical and chemical journals ; and to the medical 
literature indexed in the invaluable catalogue and Index Medicus of 



11 

the Snrgeon-General's library at Washington. Some assistance has 
also been obtained from the recent special publications of Dr. H. H. 
Kusby and Prof Byron U. Halsted. The figures, with the exception 
of Kos. 2, 18, and 21, were drawn by Mr. F. A. Walpole, the artist of 
the Division of Botany. 

GILL FUNGI (AGARICACEAE). 

DEADLY AMANITAS. 

Amanita. 

The amanitas belong to the class of plants known as gill fungi 
(Agaricaceae), and include most of the plants popularly called toad- 
stools and mushrooms. Many of these are delicious articles of food, 
and they are rapidly becoming more and more used for this ]nirpose in 
the United States. In appearance none are more attractive than the 
deadly amanitas, especially the two which are treated of in this bulle- 
tin. A few of the 25 or 30 species of this genus are edible, but as fully 
one-third are known to contain deadly poisons, and as this is not so 
generally true of any other group, it is important that its characteris- 
tics should be i)ointed out. 

The amanitas form the most typical genus of that group of tleshy 
fungi which is cbaracterized by vertical radiating plates or gills on the 
under surface of the cap. In the early stages of growth the amanitas 
are egg-shaped and are entirely enveloped by a white llocculent cover- 
ing, which is ruptured as the stem lengthens. In a few species this 
covering adheres in loose, corky patches to the top of the cap, as seen 
in fig. 1, but sometimes it slips away from the cap entirely and forms a 
more or less continuous sheathing cup at the base of the stem at the 
j)oint of enlargement, as shown in fig. 2. This llocculent covering and 
the invariably bulbous base of the stem are the most important charac- 
teristics of the genus, while the different position of the fiocculent cov- 
ering after rupture helps to distinguish the species. These features 
are well pronounced as a rule, but sometimes it requires some searching 
to find the cup. 

Besides the general envelope there is also a secondary one which at 
first covers the gills, extending from the stem outward in all directions 
horizontally to the rim of the cap. This breaks away from the cap 
before maturity and forms a more or less perfect and conspicuous col- 
lar about the ui)per i)art of the stem. Except in the case of one si^ecies 
noted below, the gills and spores are white. The geographical distri- 
bution of these fungi is not well known, as comparatively few individu- 
als have studied them carefully. 



12 

FLY AMANITA. 
Amanita muscaria (L.) Fr. 

Other names: Fly fungus; flyagaric; fly killer; deadly amanita; false 
orange amauita. (Fig. 1.) 

Description and habitat. — A handsome robust species, 4 to IG inches 
high. It is singularly free from larval pests and the usual signs of 
decay, and is highly attractive in appearance, taste, and smell. In its 
early stages the shape of the cap is very strongly convex, but by grad- 




FiG. 1.— Fly amanita {Amanita muscaria): a, mature plant ; i, top view of cap showing corky patches— 

botli one-lialf natural size 

ual expansion it becomes flat and even concave. It is invariably warty. 
In color it varies from nearly white through all shades of yellow to a 
bright red. As a rule it is more reddish in the center and light yellow 
outward, but sometimes the color is uniform throughout. The enlarged 
base is marked with short, stubby projections of the epidermis, which 
are generally replaced upward along the lower x)art of the stem by 
soft flexible shavings, as seen in the figure. The general shape of the 
plant is very much like that of the orange Amanita {Amanita caesarea), 
but it differs conspicuously in the absence of a cup and in the posses- 
sion of white instead of yellow gills and stems. It differs also in usu- 



13 

ally having a warty instead of a smooth cap. Both grow in pine and 
oak forests from spring to autumn, but the edible species does not 
appear so late in the autumn as the other. From the common mush- 
room (Agaricus campestris) the fly ainanita is easily distinguished by 
having white instead of puri)le gills and spares, by its warty cap and 
bulbous stem, and by its place of growth — the meadow mushroom never 
appearing in forests. The fly amauita is abnndant in several localities 
in the United States. 

It is the best known of all the poisonous species of fnngi. As a fly 
poison it has been used in Europe for hundreds of years, and the origin 
of its use in northeastern Asia as an intoxicant is probably not much 
more modern. Poisoning is, however, not so frequently caused by it as 
by the closely related and more poisonous death cup {Amanita phal- 
lokles), yet many cases have been recorded, the most notable recent 
instance being that which occurred at Washington, I). C, on Novem- 
ber 10, 1807, Avlien Count de Yecchj died, having eaten the fungus for 
breakfast the preceding morning. Cattle are poisoned as well as men, 
and it is supposed that their flesh is thus rendered unwholesome. 

Poisonous elements. — Several ])oisonous compounds are present in this 
fungus, the best known of which is the alkaloid muscarine. This is 
probably present in all parts of the fungus, but appears to be esi^ecially 
abundant in the spore-bearing surface or gills. When fed to animals 
this alkaloid produces an eflect which is nearly but not quite that pro- 
duced by the plant itself. 

Symptoms of poisoning. — As deduced from experiments on animals, 
from authentic records of the eflect on men who use small amounts of 
the fungus as an intoxicant, and from reliable descriptions of several 
cases of accidental poisoning, the symptoms come on generally within 
a couple of hours after the fungus is eaten. In some cases, however, 
which are alleged to have been caused by this si)ecies, the eflects have 
begun to show themselves only after several hours. Characteristic 
symptoms in cases of poisoning are the retardation of the heart's action 
and an extreme difliculty in breathing. After from two to three hours 
there is a profound stupor, often preceded or accompanied by ccdd sweats 
and nervous phenomena — such as giddiness, double vision, and lockjaw. 
Vomiting sometimes gives relief to the patient, but it is often difficult 
to produce this effect after narcosis has set in, even with the most pow- 
erful emetics — such as apomorphine. Pain at the stomach is not a 
characteristic symptou of this poison. The stupor may last from eight 
to ten hours, in milder cases, and one or two days, in more serious cases. 
Death follows in from eighteen hours to two or three days, from a 
gradual weakening and a final stoi)page of the heart's action. 

Treatment. — The treatment for the fly amanita poison consists pri- 
marily in removing the undigested fungus from the alimentary canal, 
and in counteracting the eflects of the muscarine upon the heart. The 
action of this organ should be fortified at once by hypodermic injec- 



14 

tions, by a physician, of some heart stimulant, preferably atropine, in 
doses of from 1 100 to 1 50 of a grain. As a stimulant emetic, mus- 
tard is particularly valuable. If this is not effective, apomorphine 
should be administered hypodermically by a physician. Tannin is of 
little or no value in rendering the muscarine insoluble in the stomach. 
If vomiting- has not taken place, recently burned charcoal may be 
administered for its mechanical eftect in absorbing the poison, or a 
couple of grains of permanganate of potash in a 1 per cent alkaline 
solution to decompose it. The use of this substance should be followed 
by oils or oleaginous purgatives, and the lower intestines should be 
washed out with an enema of warm water and turpentine. The use of 
atropine must be governed by the symptoms, but it is advisable to push 
it heroically, for in this alkaloid we have an almost complete physio- 
logical antidote to the poisonous principles of the fly amanita. Experi- 
ments on animals poisoned by this fungus and also by muscarine 
extracted from it have very clearly demonstrated that when the heart 
has nearly ceased to beat it may be stimulated almost instantly by a 
hypodermic injection of atropine. Its use, as thus demonstrated, has 
been the means of saving numerous lives. Muscarine may be dis- 
solved out of the fly amanita to a great extent by vinegar, but the 
possible existence in the plant of such compounds as phallin (described 
under death cup) makes its use extremely dangerous. 

The greatest diligence should be observed by market inspectors in 
preventing specimens of this and the following species from being acci- 
dentally mixed with edible species of fungi which are sold in the open 
markets. 

DEATH CUP. 

Amanita phalloides (L.) Fr. 

Other names: Poison amanita; bulbous amanita. (Fig. 2.) 
Description and habitat. — This is not so large or brightly colored as the 
preceding fungus, but is nevertheless decidedly attractive to the experi- 
menting and untutored epicure. When fresh, it has neither a dis- 
agreeable odor nor taste, nor has it any ill appearance due to the 
presence of larv;e. It grows from 3 to G or 8 inches high and has a 
smooth, satiny cap, which is strongly convex at first, finally becoming- 
flat or slightly concave. It is usually white or straw-colored, but may 
be green, light brown, yellow, or even spotted when found growing in 
dense shade. The stem is white and nearly smooth. The flocculent 
covering almost invariably slips away from the caj) in this species and 
forms a more or less conspicuous cup at the base of the stem at the 
point of enlargement, as shown in figure 2. In dry weather it some- 
times partially adheres to the cap. The cup is, however, invariably 
present. In connection with the white gills and spores and the bulbous 
base it is the distinguishing feature of the species. In general shape 
the death cup is somewhat like the common mushroom, but it is very 



15 




mucli more like another species, the smootli lepiota {Lepiota naucina) 
which is considerably sought after by expert epicures. From the com- 
mon mushroom the death cup may be at once distinguished by its cup, 
by its white gills and spores, and by its growing in woods instead of in 
meadows. Like the death cup, the lepiota has a smooth, satiny cap, 
white gills, and white spores, but it is distinguished by the absence of 
a sheathing cup and by the ball-and-socket attachment of the stem to 
the cap, as well as by its occurrence chietiy in meadows. The death 
cup is the most poisonous of all tlie Heshy fungi. It is found usually 
in pine forests, where it often grows in greater abundance than any 
other species of fungus. Sometimes, however, it encroaches upon lawns 
near the borders of woods. The plant is 
listed as growing in California and in vari- 
ous parts of theEastern and Middle States. 
In the vicinity of Washington, D. C, it is 
exceedingly abundant in late autumn. 

Poisonous element. — The poisonous con- 
stituent is phallin, a remarkable com- 
pound which resembles the white of egg 
in many of its peculiarities. It is there- 
fore known as a "toxalbumin." Like the 
albumen of egg it is easily coagulated at a 
temperature somewhat below that of boil- 
ing water. Boiling decomposes this com- 
pound and renders it inert. Salt water 
dissolves it veiy readily. A large number 
of cases of poisoning have been attributed 
to this fungus in ancient as well as in mod- 
ern times. In most of them the plant was 
taken to be an edible fungus. In a few 
instances the mere handling of the plant 
caused serious trouble. A third jiart of 
an uncooked medium-sized <nip proved 
fatal to a boy 12 years of age. The effects 
of phallin were very accurately studied 
in 1891 by Professor Kobertat Jurjew (foiinerly called Dorpat), Russia. 
This investigator showed that the fundamental injury is not the paraly- 
sis of the nerves controlling the heart, as in the case of muscarine, but 
has its seat in the blood corpuscles themselves. These are rapidly dis- 
solved, and the blood thus loses its vitality; the blood serum escapes 
into the alimentary canal, and the whole system is forced slowly but 
surely to give way. The symptoms are characteristic; no bad taste 
warns the victim, and it is usually not from until nine to fourteen hours 
after eating that the first effects appear. (Earlier symptoms in cases of 
amanita poisoning indicate the presence of muscarine or some other 
poison.) There is then considerable pain, and there may be cramps 




Fig. 2.— Death cup (Amanita phal- 
loidfs), oiie-Iialf natural size. 



10 

in the legs and other nervous lihenomena, such as convulsions and even 
lockjaw. In a few cases there are tetanic spasms. The pulse is weak 
and either quick or slow in its actiou. The pupils of the eyes are 
sometimes dilated. The abdominal i)ain is rapidly followed by nausea, 
vomiting, and extreme diarrhea, the alvine discharges assuming the 
jjeculiar "rice water" condition characteristic of cholera. The latter 
symptoms are persistently maintained, generally without loss of con- 
sciousness, until death ensues, as it does in from two to four days. 

Remedies. — Salt water is commonly used in the preparation of fungi 
for food and some pretense at cooking is generally observed. Such a 
treatment if thorough would remove the poisonous quality of the 
death cup, but the uncertainty of an adequate treatment is so great 
that the i)laut should be wholly rejected as a food. The danger is 
greater from the fact that there is no known antidote to phallin. In 
cases of poisoning by the death cup the undigested material, if not 
already vomited, must be removed from the stomach, and also from the 
alimentary canal. The same drugs recommended for fly fungus poison- 
ing should be used where the symptoms seem to indicate the presence 
of muscarine or muscarine-like substances. As a last resort against 
the effects of the phallin, the blood should be transfused with a solu- 
tion of common salt or with blood taken fresh from the veins of some 
warm-blooded animal. This can, of course, be attempted only by a 
well-skilled physician. 

The vernal amanita or destroying angel, Amanita verna Bulliard, is 
regarded by some experts as identical with the death g\\\). It has the 
same poisonous action. 



BUNCH-FLOWER FAMILY (MELANTHACEAE). 

AMERICAN FALSE HELLEBORE. 

Vtratrum liride Ait. 

Other names: American white hellebore; white hellebore; false helle- 
bore; swamp hellebore; Indian poke; meadow poke; poke root (in 
N. H.); Indian uncus; jjuppet root; earth gall; crow poison; devil's 
bite; duckretter; itch weed; bugbane; wolfsbane; bear corn. (Fig. 3.) 

Description and habitat. — A stout, herbaceous, simple-stemmed peren- 
nial, 2 to 7 feet high, with a fleshy root 1 to 3 inches long, large plaited 
stemless leaves of varying size, and a large, loose terminal cluster of 
yellowish-green flowers which blossom from May to July. Tlie plant 
is native to the United States, where it grows abundantly in wet 
meadows and along mountain brooks throughout New England; south- 
ward in cold localities through New York and Delaware to Virginia, 
and in the Alleghany Mountains to Georgia; westward in northern Wis- 
consin, the mountains of Oregon, Washington, and Idaho, and in 
Alaska. 

Poisonous constituents. — Chemical analysis shows that five or six alka- 



17 



4^ 




loids exist in the iliizome, the most imi^ortant of wliicli are jervine and 
cevadiue. Veratrine is also found, but in very small quantity. The 
other parts of the plant have not been studied critically, but from 
analogy to the white hellebore ( Verafrum alhioii) of Europe, it is prob- 
able that all of the parts of our native species, including the flowers 
and seed, contain one or more of these alkaloids, and are therefore 
poisonous, but in a much less degree than is the root. 

Causes of poisoning. — Cases arise mainly from overdoses in medicine, but 
instances of accidental poisoning are reported for man and for various 
animals and birds. In one case 
all of the members of a household 
were poisoned by eati u g the young 
leaves, which were mistaken for 
those of marsh marigold {(Utltha 
palustris) and prepared for food. 
Animals do not relish the plant, 
which is acrid and burning- in the 
fresh conditioUjbut young animals 
sometimes eatit witli fatal results. 
The root is not often mistaken for 
that of edible plants, but bieing 
fleshy and especially rich in alka 
loids, it is somewhat dangerous. 
The seeds have been eaten by 
chickens with fatal results. The 
general effect of the plant is very 
much like that of aconite [Aconi- 
tum napellus), being directed 
chiefly against the action of the 
heart and spinal cord, both of 
which it tends to i)aralyze. It 
has also a violent, although some- 
what tardy, emetic and cathartic 
eflect, a property which is often 
effective in expelling the poison 
from the system before it accom- 
plishes its deadly work. 

Symptoms. — Symptomatically its main physiological effect is as fol- 
lows, viz: Burning in the throat and esophagus, increased salivation, 
defective vision, retching, vomiting, diarrhea, severe headache, vertigo, 
faintness, weak pulse, labored respiration, and profound prostration. 
Death is caused by paralysis of the heart. 

Remedies. — In cases of poisoning empty the stomach as rapidly as 
possible, then give ^stimulants, such as brandy and strong coffee, A 
physician should give ether and opium hypodermically. The feet and 
hands must be kept warm and the patient should lie flat on the back 
to prevent attacks of vertigo. 
1701)0— No. 20 L' 




False hellebore {Yeratnnn viride), one- 
thinl natural size. 



18 



Other native species. — Four other species of Veratrum are native to the 
United States, all of which are j)robably poisonous in the same way as 
the Eastern species just treated of. All but one of these are, however, 
more or less local in their distribution and need not be considered here. 
Veratrum californicum Durand is quite worthy of note. In general 
appearance it resembles the Eastern species. The flower cluster is less 
slender and more upright in habit, its flowers are white instead of yel- 
lowish green, and the floral leaves are longer and narrower. The plant 
is of frequent occurrence in the mountains of California and northward 
to British Columbia; also in Nevada and in the Rocky Mountains from 
Wyoming to New Mexico. 

LILY OF THE VALLEY FAMILY (CONVALLARIACEAE). 

LILY OF THE VALLEY. 
Convallaria majalis L. 

Other names: May lily; May blossom. (Fig. 4.) 

Description and habitat. — A low, smooth, stemless perennial, with two 

broad, conspicuous leaves and a central 
scape bearing a number of pretty, sweet- 
scented white flowers. This plant, so 
well known in ornamental cultivation, is 
native to both Europe and the United 
States, but is found in this country in a 
wild state only in the higher Alleghany 
Mountains of Virginia, North Carolina, 
and Tennessee. In the latter State it 
grows luxuriantly on the humid western 
slopes of the Little and Big Frog moun- 
tains, at an altitude of 3,000 feet. 

Poisonous element. — The active constit- 
uent is convallamarin, an extremely 
poisonous crystalline compound with a 
bitter and afterwards sweetish taste, and 
a depressing action on the heart like 
that of the common foxglove (Dif/italis 
purpurea). It is found in all jjarts of the 
plant, including the flowers. Few cases 
of poisoning are attributed to it, but 
the j)lant is dangerous on account of the 
beauty of its flowers. The taste of these, 
however, is acrid and bitter, and on this 
account there is much less danger of 
children eating them. Sheep and goats, 
it is said, may eat the leaves with impu- 
nity, but other animals refuse them. 

Symptoms and remedies. — The emetic and purgative actions of the lily 




Fig. 4. — Lily of the valley (ConvaUaria 
majalis), one-third natural size. 



19 



of the valley are quite marked. Besides these tlie prominent symp- 
toms to be looked for in cases of poisoning are, at first, diminished, then 
infre(iuent and irregular heart action, and finally death from paralysis 
of the heart. No special antidote is known. The general treatment 
should he like that which would be adopted 
for digitalis poisoning, but varied according 
to the minor symjotoms i)roduced. 





Fig. 5. Showy lady's slipper (Cypri- 
pediumreginae), oue third natural size. 



Fia. 6.— Larger yellow lady's slipper (('uprt- 
'pediwa liirsvlvm), one-third natural size. 



ORCHID FAMILY ( ORCHID ACEAE). 

LADY'S SLIPPERS. 

Cypripedium. 

Other names: Moccasin fiower; ducks (Pa.); whij)-j)Oor-will shoes 
(K Y.). 

Perennial plants with large, conspicuously parallel- veined and i>laited 
leaves, and one or a few large, irregular pink and white or yellow flow- 
ers. The following species may be readily recognized : 

SHOWY lady's SLIPPEE. 
Cypripedium reginae Walt. 

Other names : Whip-i)oor-will shoes (Conn.); nerve root (ISTew Bruns- 
wick); female nervine. (Fig. 5.) 

Description and habitat. — A robust, somewhat hairy plant, 1 to 2 feet 



20 

high, with white flowers usually striped with purple, blossoming from 
Juue to September. It grows in peat bogs and swamps from Maine to 
Minnesota, southward to Georgia and Missouri. 

LARGER YELLOW LADY'S SLIPPER. 

Cijpripedium liirsiiium Mill. 

Other names : Lady's slip j)er 5 yellow lady's slipper ; yellow moccasiu ; 
moccasin flower; nervine; American valerian; yellows; Noah's ark; 
yellow umbil; nerve root; Indian shoe; slipper root; Venus's cup; 
Venus's shoe; umble; male nervine; monkey flower. (Fig. G.) 

Description and habitat. — A hairy or pubescent plant, 12 to 18 inches 
high, with large, inodorous yellow flowers, appearing in May or Juue. 
It grows in bogs and low woods from Maine to Minnesota, southward 
to northern Alabama and Arkansas, and sparingly in Colorado. 

SMALLER YELLOW LADY'S SLIPPER. 

Cypripedimii parvijlornm Salisb. 

Description and habitat. — A minutely hairy i)lant, 1 to 2 feet high, with 
yellow and brown flowers, blossoming in May and June. It differs 
from the ])receding in the smaller size of its flower and in the posses- 
sion of a sweet odor. It is found in bogs and low woods throughout 
nearly the same range as the preceding species, but extends farther 
northwestward, to the State of V\ ashiugtou. 

Poisonous character. — The poisonous character of these i)lauts was not 
susi)ected i)rior to 1875, when Prof. H. H. Babcock, of Chicago, who 
had annually been suffering, supposedly from recurrent attacks of ivy 
(IJhus) poisoning, discovered that the affection was most probably 
caused not by the ivy, but by the two species of lady's slipper tirst 
named above. Other instances were afterwards reported, but the facts 
were not positively ascertained until 1894, when an investigation was 
made by Prof. D. T. MacDougal, of the University of Minnesota. It 
was discovered that these plants are provided with glandular hairs 
which cover the surface of the stem and leaves and contain a poisonous 
oil. This oil is especially abundaut at the fruiting season. Its action 
on the skin is very similar to that of toxicodendrol, the active constitu- 
ent of i)oison ivy {Rhus radicans), but its exact chemical nature could 
not be ascertained on account of the small quantity obtainable. Experi- 
ments with the stem and leaves upon individuals showed that over half 
of them were affected by the first two species, and that the last was 
also poisonous, but in a minor degree. No accidental cases have been 
recorded against it. No specific antidote has been suggested. 



21 



PINK FAMILY (ALSINACEAE). 

CORN COCKLE. 

» ' Agrosteinma gitkiKjo L. 

Other names : Cockle; rose Ciiinpion; bastard nigelle; old maid's 
pink (N^. H.); mullein pink (Nova Scotia); licbeta (Vt.); crown of the 
field. (Fio-. 7.) 

Description and habitat. — A wliitisb, woolly annual, 1 to o feet high, 
with an erect stem, showy, violet-red Howers, and numerous rough, 
black, irregularly-rounded seeds. 

The corn cockle is a noxious weed in Europe, and in the United 
States it is now generally introduced in grain fields from Maine to 
North Dakota, southward through 
eastern Kansas to Louisiana and 
Florida; sparingly in Wyoming 
and California, and scarcely at all 
in the dry region extending east- 
ward from California to Texas and 
eastern Kansas. 

Poisonous constituent. — The poi- 
sonous constituent, saponin, is a 
noncrystalline powder, very freely 
soluble in water, and possessing* a 
sharp, burning taste. It has no 
odor, but when inhaled in the 
smallest quantity it produces vio- 
lent sneezing. When briskly 
shaken with water it froths like 
soap. The poison is found in 
nearly all parts of the plant, but 
mainly in the kernel of the seed. 

Causes of poisoning. — Cases of 
iwisoning have been noted among 
all sorts of poultry and household 
animals, but are rarely due to any 
portion of the plant as found grow- 
ing in the field. The poisoning is 
generally produced by a poor grade 
of flour made from wheat contain- 
ingcockle seeds. Machinery is used 
to remove these seeds from the 

wheat, but the difficulty of separating them is so great that the result is 
not entirely accomplished. The quantity remaining determines the grade 
of the flour in this particular regard. It sometimes amounts to 30 or 
40 per cent, but this quality is sent out only by ignorant or unscrupu- 
lous dealers or is intended for consumption by animals only. Flour 




Fig. 7. — Corn cockle (Agrosteunna (jithago) : a, 
spriiya showing flowers and seed capsule, one- 
third natural size ; 6, seed, natural size; &', seed, 
four times natural size. 



22 

contaming a smaller amount lias often been made into bread and eaten, 
sometimes with fatal results, tlie baking not always being sufficient to 
decompose the poison. The effect may be acute, or, if a small quantity 
of the meal is eaten regularly, it may be chronic. In the latter case it 
is sometimes known as a disease under the name of " githagism." 

Symptoms. — The general symptoms of acute poisoning aie the follow- 
ing: Intense irritation of the whole digestive tract, vomiting, headache, 
nausea, vertigo, diarrhea, hot skin, sharp pains in the spine, difficult 
locomotion, and depressed breathing. Coma is sometimes present, and 
may be followed by death. Chronic poisoning has not been closely 
studied in man, but experiments upon animals show chronic diarrhea 
and gradual depression, the animal losing vigor in breathing and in 
muscular movements until death ensues. The action is antagonized 
by the use of digitalin, or of the simple extract of digitalis (Digitalis 
^ntrjnirea), a dangerous poison, which should be given only by a physican. 

Corn cockle meal is easily detected in second and third class flour by 
the i)resence of the black, roughened scales of the seed coat. These 
are sure to occur if the Hour has not been well bolted. Its presence is 
otherwise detected by the i)eculiar odor produced when the meal is 
moistened and by chemical tests with iodine. 

Wheat containing corn cockle seeds should be rejected for planting. 

CROWFOOT FAMILY (RANUNCULACEAE). 

ACONITE. 

Aeonilvm coliimhianum Nntt. 

Other names: Monkshood; friar's cap; wolfsbane; iron hat; storm 
hat; blue weed. (Fig. 8.) 

Description and habitat. — An erect, smooth, single-stemmed plant, 2 to 
6 feet high, with a leafy base and an elongated terminal cluster of showy 
blue flowers. Aconite thrives best in moist open woods and bj- the side 
of brooks in Oregon and Washington, but extends along the mountains 
southward to Lake County, Cal., and to the southern Sierra IS^evada 
(occurring sparingly in Arizona), and eastward, likewise in tlie moun- 
tains, to Montana, Wyoming, and Colorado, and even as far as South 
Dakota. 

Other species. — Four other species are native to the eastern United 
States, and a tifth, the common monksliood of Europe {A. iiKpelhis) is a 
common garden plant. All are poisonous, but the western species is 
of most interest in the United States, being here the most abundant 
and most widely distributed. 

Poisonous properties. — Few cases of accidental poisoning have been 
attributed to these plants, yet the European form has long been classed 
with tlie most violent poisons, only one-tenth of a grain of aconitine, 
its poisonous principle, being required to cause death. Most cases of 



23 



poisoning arise from an ignorant or excessive use of the European 
aconite in medicine. Its root has, however, been mistaken for horse- 
radish and the leaves for parsley. Horses and cattle have been seri- 
ously ijoisoued by eating small ijortions of the flowering tops. 

All of the parts of the west American aconite are poisonous, but the 
seeds and roots are the most dangerous. The active principle is not 
well known, but chemical and physiological' exi)eriments point to the 
existence of one or more alkaloids which resemble aconitine. The effect 
of the poison is characteristic. 
There is tirsta tingling sensation 
on the end of the tongue which 
gives rise shortly to a burning 
sensation, and is rapidly followed 
by a very pronounced sen se of con- 
striction in the throat. The chok- 
ing thus produced is made the 
more alarming by the retarding 
effect which the poison has upon 
the respiration. The tingling and 
prickling over the entire body is 
also characteristic. Besides these 
symptoms there are generally 
severe headache, abdominal 
pains, confused vision, vomiting, 
and diarrhea. Delirium is usually 
absent. Death ensues from a 
stoppage of the resjjiration in 
from one to eight hours. 

Antidotes. — No specific antidote 
is recognized, but physicians 
have used atropine or digitalis 
and nitrite of amyl with good 
effects. The ordinary emetics 
and stimulants must be given. 
Artificial respiration should 
be maintained for a couple of 
hours, if necessary, and a" re- 
cumbent position must be main- rio. S.-Aconite {Aconitum columUanum): a, flow- 
. . T ., , , ,1 , , erinji plant: 6, seeU capsule — both one- third natural 

tamed throughout the treatment, size. 




LARKSPURS. 

Delphinium. 

Description. — Erect herbs, with palmately lobed leaves, and an elon- 
gated cluster of showy flowers. These are commonly blue, and are 
further characterized by the absence of green parts, and the presence 
of a peculiar spur-like appendage. 



24 



Species. — There are over 25 species native to the United States. 
Few have a very wide distribution, but some of the Western species 
are extremely abundant in tlieir native habitat. All share the general 
reputation for acridity borne bj- the plants of this order. 

Poisonous properties. — The seed of the European stavesacre {Delplim- 
ium staphisa<jria) has long been regarded as a powerful poison. The 
seed of the commonly introduced larkspur (D. consolida) is regarded as 
less jjoisonous; the leaf is reputed to be poisonous to cattle in Europe. 
The leaf of the stavesacre has only recently been shown to be poison- 
ous. The properties of the roots 
of these and other species are not 
well known. Little or no atten- 
tion has yet been paid by Ameri- 
can chemists to the native lark- 
si)urs, hence it is not known how 
poisonous they are in comparison 
with European. Their general 
reputation as jilants poisonous to 
cattle is, however, very much more 
pronounced. The following have 
been reported to the Department 
of Agriculture : 




DWARF LARKSPUR. 

l>elphinium iricorne Miclix. 

Other name : S ta g g e r - w e e d 
(Ohio). (Fig. 9.) 

Description and hahitat. — A 
smooth, simi)le-stemmed peren- 
nial, 6 to 12 inches higb, with a 
tuberous root, deeply 5-parted 
leaves, and a long, loose cluster of 
blue (sometimes white) flowers, 
which appear in April and May. 
It grows in clayey soil and open 
woods, from Pennsylvania and the mouiitains of ISTorth Carolina to 
southern Minnesota. It is especially reported from Ohio as fatal to 
cattle in April, when the fresh leaves appear. 



Fig. 9. — Dwarf larkspur (Delpliinium tricorne 
one-tliird natural size. 



LARKSPUR. 

Delpliinium geyiri Greene. 

Description and habitat. — A somewhat hairy perennial, 10 to 20 inches 
high, with a large spheroidal tuft of rather thick, dull-green leaves, and 
a central column of deep azure-blue tlowers. A common high prairie 



25 

plant of Wyoming and nortberu Colorado. It is reported to be the 
most troublesome of the poisonous plants of Wyoming. Eanchmen 
suffer considerable loss from it, especially in early spring, when the 
dark green tufts of foliage are conspicuous features of the otherwise dry 
and barren landscape. 

PURPLE LARKSPUR. 

Dclphhiiiiiii menziesii DC 

Description and habitat. — A somewhat hairy, tuberous-rooted i)eren- 
nial, about a foot high, with a basal cluster of finely divided, long- 
stemmed leaves, and a single column of showy blue flowers, which 
api)ear at any time between April and July. The flowers are few in 
number, but are extra large, being from 1 to 1^ inches broad. This 
species is found native on hillsides from the vicinity of San Francisco 
to British Columbia, eastward to Idaho, and even as far as South Dakota. 
In Montana it is very common throughout the State. In one case of 
poisoning, reported by the botanist of the Montana Agricultural College, 
over 500 sheep were affected, 250 of which were killed by the poison. 

LARKSPUR. 

Delphinium rccurvatiim Greeue. 

Description and habitat. — A smooth, or slightly hairy, fleshy-rooted 
perennial, 1 to li feet high, with a tuft of finely divided light-green leaves 
and a long cluster of lavender-colored flowers, which appear in March 
or April. The plant grows in moist, subsaline soil in California from 
San Francisco Bay southward along the coast, and in the San Joaquin 
Valley. It is particularly reported as fatal to animals in San Luis 
Obispo County. 

LARKSPUR. 

DelpJimium trolliifolium Gray. 

Other names: Cow poison (Humboldt County, Cal.). 

Description and habitat. — A rather smooth, half woody-rooted perennial, 
2 feet high or more, with large, long stemmed basal leaves and a loose 
cluster of blue (partly white) flowers, which appear from March to June. 
The plant is common in shady places from Monterey, Cal., to British 
Columbia. Ilei)orts of jioisoning come from northern California aud 
Oregon. 

Other species. — These do not include all of the poisonous species. A 
variety of i>. decorum^ native to the Sierra Nevada, has been suspected, 
and D. scopiihmm, a Rocky Mountain species, has been reported to the 
Canadian department of agriculture as poisonous to cattle in the high 
western prairies of Canada. 

Poisonous qualities. — The poisonous qualities of one of the above 
species (X>. trolliifolium) has been considerably questioned, and experi- 
ments seem to show that neither the tops nor the roots of 24 plants 
will produce serious results when fed to cows. This does not, however, 



26 

j)rove that a larger quantity would not be dangerous. A stockman 
very familiar with the plant claims that cows must feed on it for sev- 
eral hours before they will be affected seriously. This may also be the 
case with other si^ecies. Their comparative poisonous quality has not 
been studied. The i^ercentage of fatal cases in cattle which have 
eaten larkspur is said to be small. A rough estimate by a cattleman 
l)laces it at about 20 per cent for one species of the group, when the 
animals are not properly treated, and 5 i^er cent otherwise. This is 
probably a low estimate, however, for in a case of poisoning from D. 
menziesii that occurred in Montana in May, 1897, and was rei)orted 
by Dr. E. V, Wilcox, nearly 600 sheep were affected, 250 of which died. 
Remedies. — There is a general similarity in the poisonous action of 
the larkspurs, and this is strikingly like that of aconite or monkshood, 
which these i)lants also closely resemble botauically; further, it has 
been shown that the characteristic alkaloid of each has about the 
same behavior. The antidotes to be recommended are, therefore, the 
same as for aconite poisoning. Atropine was used last year with 
remarkable success by Dr. Wilcox. Melted lard (or bacon grease) 
is claimed to be an efficacious remedy in the hands of farmers. It is 
an excellent precaution to allow animals in i)astures containing lark- 
spur only when well fed, and then only for short i3eriods, until they 
become thoroughly familiar with the deleterious nature of the plants. 

PLUM FAMILY (PRUNACEAE). 

BLACK CHERRY. 
rrunus serotina Ehrli. 
Other names: Wild black cherry; wild cherry; rum cherry; whisky 
cherry. (Fig. 10.) 

Description and habitat. — A valuable forest tree, 60 to 80 feet high, 
with thin, reddish brown, scaly bark, tapering, saw-edged leaves, 
cylindrical clusters of small white flowers apijearing in April and May, 
and shining black, edible fruit, about a quarter of an inch in diameter. 
It grows abundantly in forests in the Middle Atlantic and Ohio Eiver 
States; less commonly in woods and in the open country in the south- 
ern New England and Gulf States, and westward from Illinois to 
South Dakota, eastern Nebraska, and Arkansas. As an ornamental 
and shade tree it is cultivated extensively in Wyoming and Colorado, 
and eastward to the Atlantic. 

Fruit. — The fruit is rather agreeable, being but slightly bitter and 
astringent in taste. In some localities it is much used to flavor liquors. 

Causes of poisoning. — Poisoning is frequently caused in cattle by eat- 
ing the wilted leaves from branches thrown carelessly within their 
reach or ignorantly offered as food. Children occasionally die from 
eating the kernels of the seed or by swallowing the fruit whole. The 
poison is formed in the leaves of detached branches by the chemi- 
cal action of two nonpoisonous substances which are present in the 



27 



plant. Utider certain conditions tliese compounds liberate prussic 
acid, one of the most deadly poisons. The fresh leaves are generally 
considered harmless. As they begin to wither, however, the acid is 
formed, but as this is volatile it disappears from the foliage in a short 
time. These facts thus serve to explain how it is that only the 
partially wilted leaves are considered poisonous. 

Symptoms of poisoning, — The prominent symptoms of black cherry 
poisoning observed in cattle are labored respiration, diminished pulse, 
numbness, fright, protruding eyeballs, convulsions, and death from 
paralysis of the lungs. In some 
cases there is considerable froth- 
ing at the mouth ; in all there is 
a very perceptible odor of prns- 
sic acid in the breath. 

Remedies. — Death comes on 
rai)idly, but nevertheless it is 
obligatory in case of a human 
subject to use emetics and advis- 
able to wash out the stomach 
with a dilute solution of perox- 
ide of hydrogen. A physician 
should administer a solution of 
cobalt nitrate, either internally 
or hypodermically. Artiticial 
respiration and the use of oxy- 
gen gas should be resorted to. 
The extraction of blood and the 
transfusion of blood serum or 
salt solution should also be con- 
sidered. 

Other native species. — Other 
closely related species are like- 
wise poisonous. The Euroi)ean 
cherry laurel {FrmiKS laurocera- 
■sus) has an established reputa- 
tion. It is not common in this 
country, but is well known in central Mexico. The laurel cherry {Primus 
carolini(tna) of the southern coast States is also poisonous. It is largely 
cultivated in that region for ornament and as a hedge. The choke cherry 
{Prunns vlrgi)iiana), a well-known shrub or tree distributed from the 
Eocky Mountains to the Atlantic, has not so tempting a fruit and is 
not extensively planted for ornament. It is therefore not so dangerous. 
The seeds of all varieties of cherries and plums, both native and intro- 
duced, are subject to suspicion; the tlesh of none of the species is in 
any way poisonous. 

The freshly cut branches of the trees should in no case be thrown 
where cattle can get at them. 




Clack cherry (Prunus serotUia), one third 
natural size. 



28 



SENNA FAMILY (CAESALPINIACEAE). 

KENTUCKY COFFEE TREE. 
Gymnocladus dioica (L.) Koch. 

Other names: Coffee tree; American coffee bean; Kentucky mahog- 
any; nicker tree; bondnc; chicot. (Fig. 11.) 

Description and habitat. — A robust, locust like tree, 40 to 60 feet high, 

with rough, transversely broken 
bark, thornless branches, bijiin- 
nate leaves 2 to 3 feet long, with 
numerous leaflets ; yellowish flow- 
ers, andlarge, conspicuous, woody 
seed pods. These are occupied by 
two or more large stony seeds and 
a mass of peculiar vaseline-like 
inil}). The tree grows more or 
less abundantly in rich soil along 
rivers from Nebraska to Arkan- 
sas, throughout Tennessee and 
the Ohio Eiver region to western 
Pennsylvania. 

Poisonous property. — The alka- 
loid cytisine, which exists in the 
closely related laburnum tree {Cy- 
tisHS lahurnum), is reported to 
have been found also in the leaves 
and in the fruit pulp of the (.'offee 
tree. Both of these parts have 
been used, when rubbed up with 
milk, to poison tiies. 

Symptoms and treatment. — Few 
accidental cases of poisoning 
arise, but the pulp, in one in- 
stance, caused severe illness in a 
woman who ate a small quantity, 
mistaking it for that of the honey locust {Gleditsia triacanthos), which 
is frequently eaten by children. The symptoms Avere not fully noted 
at the time, but are described from memory as conspicuously narcotic. 
The effect began within Ave minutes and lasted several hours. The 
treatment should probably be the same as that for laburnum, viz, 
emetics, stimulants, injections of coffee, and an alternately hot and cold 
douche to the head and chest. 




JTlo. 11. — Kentucky cott'eo tree (Oyiiinocladus dioi- 
ca) : a, young branch with leaves and flowers ; h, 
seed pod — both one-third natural size. 



29 
PEA FAMILY (PAPILIONACEAE). 



WOOLLY LOCO WEED. 
Asiraf/alus mollis^hnui^ Torr. 

Other names : Loco weed; crazy weed, (Fig. 12.) 

Description and habitat. — A silvery-white, silky-leaved i^ereimial 8 to 12 
inches high, with an abnndance of soft foliage si)riiiging out in a cluster 
from a short central stem close to the ground. The flowers are pea- 
shaped and usually purjde. The pod is distinctly two-celled. This 
plant is native to the Great Plains 
region, extending from western 
Texas and New Mexico northward 
to South Dakota and Wyoming, 
being most abundant in Colorado 
and in the western part of Ne- 
braska and Kansas. It grows in 
the pasture lands of the dry prn irie 
and on rocky hillsides. 

How stock are affected. — Horses, 
cattle, and sheep are attected l)y 
loco, but the principal damage is 
done to horses. The effect is not 
acute, but in its slow progress 
simulates diseases caused by bac- 
teria, worms, or other parasites or 
such as are caused in man by the 
continued use of alcohol, tobacco, 
or morphine. Two stages are rec- 
ognized. The first, which may last 
several months, is a period of hal- 
lucination or mania accompanied 
by detective eyesight, during 
which the animal may perform 
all sorts of antics. After acquir- 
ing a taste for the plant it refuses 
every other kind of food, and the 
second stage is ushered in. This 
is a lingering period of emaciation, characterized bj^ sunken eye- 
balls, lusterless hair, and feeble movements. The animal dies as if 
from starvation, in periods ranging from a few months to one or two 
years. 

Damage done. — The damage done to the live-stock business by this 
weed is immense. As mentioned in the introduction, the State of Col- 
orado paid out nearly $200,000 in bounties between 1881 and 1885 to 
check its ravages. 

Poisonous properties. — Chemists and medical men have studied the 




Ki. 12. — Wooly loco -weeil (Astraiiulux tiiollisxi- 
mus) : a, whole plaut ; b, section of pod — both 
one-third natural size. 



30 



plants with much care, but until two years ago their efforts threw little 
light on the nature of the poison. In 1895, however, Dr. Carl Ruedi 
isolated an acid (loco acid) from it to which he attributed the poison- 
ous qualities of the plant. 

Antidotes. — No effectual antidotes have as yet been published, so the 
only remedy for the evil is to remove the animals from the vicinity of 

the i^lants as early as possible after they are 
affected, and then maintain them on some good 
nourishing food, in no case permitting them 
to return to the old pastures until the noxious 
plants have been removed. 

The following recipe, suggested by Dr. 
INIayo ill 1892, may be found serviceable in 
assisting tbe animal to recover vigor: 

Ounces. 

Sulphate of iron, iiulveiized 1 

Gentian root, pulverized 4 

Auimouium cliloride, pulverized 1 

Potassium nitrate, pulverized 1 

Mix tliorougbly, and give from a Leaping teaspoon- 
ful to a tal)lespoonful, according to the size of the 
animal, in the food three times daily. 

This genus contains a large number of spe- 
cies and it is quite probable that many of these 
should be considered to be poisonous where 
they grow over wide areas of pasture land, 
and are green at periods when there is but 
little green grass. Over a half dozen have 
been reported to the Department of Agricul- 
ture as highly detrimental to the stock in- 
dustrj^ 

STEMLESS LOCO WEED. 
Ara<iaJhis lambcrtii (Fursh) Greene. 

Other names: Loco weed; crazy weed; Colo- 
rado loco vetch. (Fig. 13.) 

Description and habitat. — This differs from the true loco weed most 
conspicuously in its more erect and branchless habit, its longer leaflets, 
which are linear or oblong instead of ovate, and the one-celled seed pod. 
It ranges over the same territory as does the woolly loco weed, but 
extends farther, being found throughout the Great Plains from British 
America to Mexico, and it also ascends higher in the mountains, at 
Silver Cliff', in Colorado, growing luxuriantly at an altitude of about 
8,000 feet. 

Symptoms. — So far as has been observed, the symptoms of i>oisoning 
are identical with those produced by the jDreceding species. The two 
plants are considered to be equally j)rejudicial to the stock-raising 
interests of New Mexico. 




Fig. 13.— Stemle.ss loco wee^ 
{Aragallus lamhertii) : a, flower- 
ing ])laut; 6, sf eil pod.s ; c, cross 
section of seed pod — all one. 
third natural .size. 



31 



RATTLEBOX. 

Crotalaria HagiUalis L. 

Other names: Rattleweed; wild pea. (Fig. 14.) 

Description and habitat. — A liairy annual, 3 to IS inches high, with 
simple undivided leaves, 1 to 2 inches long, and small yellow pea-like 
flowers aj)pearing in July. The seed pods are about an inch in length 
when mature, and are nearly black. They are much inflated, and as 
the walls are stifl" and thin and very resonant, they make excellent 
miniature rattles when the seeds 
have become detached. The rat- 
tlebox is native in low, sandy soils 
from the Atlantic westward to Min- 
nesota and eastern Kansas; also 
in New Mexico. It is common in 
Connecticut, New Jersey, and 



North Carolina, and in some years 
is very abundant in bottom lands 
along the valley of the Missouri, 
in South Dakota and Iowa. 

Poisonous element. — The i)oison- 
ous constituent is unknown, but 
it resides both in the leaves and in 
the seeds. Horses and sometimes 
cattle are killed by eating grass or 
meadow hay mixed with the plant. 
They are not poisoned so often by 
eating the plant in the field. Pub- 
lic attention was first called to the 
poisonous nature of rattlebox by 
Dr. Stalker, of Iowa, who in 1884, 
while investigating the cause of 
"bottom disease," then prevalent 
among horses in Iowa, was led to 
believe that it was mostly if not 
altogether attributable to this 
plant. Extracts were prepared which, when fed to young horses, pro- 
duced analogous symptoms and death. The pronounced symptoms for 
a moderate dose were great stupor and loud, heavy breathing. A larger 
dose caused death in one and one-half hours. Small doses repeated 
daily induced the characteristic stupor on the fifth day, and death on 
the thirteenth. 

Symptoms. — As generally described from accidental cases, the symp- 
toms are much more prolonged, death resulting only after several weeks 
or months. There is a general decline of vigor, and a gradual loss of 
flesh as observed in the case of loco, with which this plant is closely 
related. The rattlebox does not, however, appear so often to produce 
the craziness characteristic of loco. 




Fig. ]4.— Kattlebox {Crotalaria sagittalls) : «, 
whole i)laut; b, cross section of seed pod — both 
one-third natural size. 



32 

Antidote. — i^o anti<l<)te has been suggested, but Dr. Stalker states 
that provided tlie aiiiinals are giveu a proper and nutritious diet, they 
will be greatly benefited by daily doses of 2 ounces of epsom salts, 
with 2 drachms of sulphate of iron and 1 drachm of nux vomica. 

The percentage of rattlebox in meadow hay will be materially reduced 
if the fields are burned over wiien the seeds mature the preceding sum- 
mer. The growth of perennial grasses will not be materially affected 
thereby. 

SPURGE FAMILY (EUPHORBIACEAE). 

SPURGES. 

Jiujyhorbia. 

The spurge family, of which the Euphorbias constitute the typical 
genus, is represented in the United States by about 18 genera and over 
200 species, many being widely and abundantly distributed in the 
colder as well as in the hotter sections of the country, though the 
species are more numerous in the latter. All contain a milky juice 
which is more or less acrid and irritating to the skin. Several exotic 
representatives of the order, such as the Brazilian i^hysic nut [Jairo- 
pha iirens), the European dog's mercury {Mercurialis perennis), and the 
East Indian Croton tigliuvi, the source of croton oil, are well known 
to be violent jioisous. Tlie deadly manchiiieel (Hippomaiie maneineUa) 
occurs in Florida as well as in the West Indies, and the castor-oil plant 
{Rlcinus commiotis) is largely cultivated and introduced in the South- 
ern and Western States. Many species are known to produce dis- 
agreeable skin eruptions, either on account of their stinging hairs, as 
in the Southern spurge nettle {Jatropha stimulosa) and in Tragia nepe- 
taefolia, or by their acrid juice. Some, such as Croton- sctUjeriis of Cali- 
fornia and Euphorbia marginata (fig. 10), furnish a deleterious honey, 
and some are used as fish and arrow poisons. 

A large projwrtion of these plants belong to the s^jurge genus proper 
(Euphorbia). It is a genus characterized by its milky juice and its 
incomx)lete and mostly inconspicuous tlowers. Several of the latter are 
grouped together on a small receptacle surrounded by an involucre, 
sometimes showy, the whole having the appearance of a single flower. 
One flower from each involucre finally develops a consi)icuously three- 
celled and three-seeded fruit. The leaves assume brilliant colors in 
some species, which are therefore cultivated for ornament. The native 
species are mostly herbaceous. The spurges maintain the general 
reputation of the family as poisonous plants in all of the ways indicated 
above, and additionally by overdoses when used as a i)urgative, by 
poisoning cattle that eat of them or drink water into which the i)lauts 
have been thrown, and indirectly, it is claimed, by poisoning the milk 
of animals that have fed upon the various species. Gardeners are 
sometimes i)oisoned while trimming the cultivated plants (Poinsettias). 
Spurge poisoning is due to two or three constituents which are, per- 
haps, common to all the species, but the subject has not been very 



33 



closely investigated and the poisons are not well known. The symp- 
toms produced by one of the common introduced species may be taken 
as typical. 

CAPER SPURGE. 
Euphorhia lathyris L. 

Other names. — Garden spurge ; myrtle spurge ; mole plant; mole weed; 
mole tree; goplier plant; auti-goplier idant; wild caper; caper bush; 
Avolf's milk; springwort. (Fig. 15.) 

Description and habitat. — A smooth herbaceous perennial, 2 to 3 feet 
high, with a stiff, erect stem, and opposite, four-ranked leaves, the lower 
of which are thick and oblong, the upper thin, broad, and heart-shaped. 
The flowers are greenish -yellow 
and rather small. The three-seeded 
fruit is conspicuous. It is a com- 
mon garden plant, sparingly intro- 
duced in wet ground in California 
and Texas, and in the Atlantic 
States from New Jersey to West 
Virginia and North Carolina. 

Poisonous properties. — The fresh 
milky juice is exceedingly acrid 
and the fruit is highly purgative 
and poisonous. When nsed as a 
household remedy it often pro- 
vokes serious trouble. Women 
and children are not infrequently 
l)oisoned by handling the plant 
and getting the juice on tlie face. 
Cattle are quite resistant to its 
influence, but they are sometimes 
overcome. Goats Avill eat the 
plant extensively if iu)thing better 
presents itself, and it is said that 
their milk then possesses all of 
the venomons properties of the 
plant. When applied to the skin 
the juice causes redness, itching, 
pimples, and sometimes gangrene; 

the effect often lasting more than a week. The seed taken internally 
in overdose will inflame the mouth and stomach, and cause intense 
diarrhea and vomiting. If the dose is sufficient there will be nervous 
disorders, unconsciousness, general collapse, and death. 

Antidotes. — In cases of internal j^oisoning empty the stomach at once 

by means of the stomach pump or emetics, and give the patient milk, 

white of egg with water, or flaxseed tea, to drink. Bathe in warm 

water to which ammonia or mustard has been added, and inhale dilute 

17090— No. 20 3 




Fill. 15. — Caper spurge (Euphorbia lathi/ri-t) : a, 
upper half of plant, one-third natural size; b, 
seed capsule, natural size. 



34 



aiuinouia. If superpurgation occurs, opium should be administered by 
a physician. In the case of two children, who were poisoned at Oak- 
land, Cal., by eating a few seeds, ipecacuanha and Veratrum viride were 
administered with good effect. In cases of skin poisoning a wash of an 
alcoholic solution of sugar of lead (lead acetate) should be tried. 

SNOW ON THE MOUNTAIN. 
Euphorhia marginata Pursli. 

Description and habitat. — An annual plant 2 to 4 feet high, differing 
most conspicuously from the preceding species in its more Hexuous and 
less branching habit, and in having its upper leaves broadly margined 

with white. Its general aspect is 
far more pleasing to the eye, and 
on this account it is more fre- 
quently gathered for decorative 
purposes. This spurge is a na- 
tive weed of the Great Plains 
from Montana to Mexico, and is 
spreading eastward rapidly to 
Louisiana and through southern 
Minnesota and Missouri to Wis- 
consin, Illinois, and Indiana. It 
is cultivated considerably for 
ornament, especially in the North- 
ern Atlantic States, where it has 
frequently escaped from cultiva- 
tion. It has recently been intro- 
duced as a weed into Germany. 

Poisonous property. — The poison 
of this plant reaches the stomach 
so far as known only through the 
eating of honey derived from its 
flowers. Large quantities of fall 
honey are annually made unsala- 
ble in localities where the plant 
grows in great abundance. The 
honey is hot and disagreeable to 
the taste, but does not appear to 
be a A^ery serious poison, its ef- 
fects being confined mostly to vomiting and purging. The milky juice 
when applied to the skin very often causes an itching inflammation, 
accomi^anied by pimples and blisters which last for several days. The 
general effect is much like that observed in rhus poisoning, for which it 
is sometimes mistaken. This blistering action is, in fact, so decided 
that a few stock raisers in Texas use the juice to brand cattle, it being 
held by them to be superior to a red-hot iron for that purpose because 
the scar heals more satisfactorily. 




Fig. 1(5. — Snow on the mountain {Etiphorbia mar- 
(jinata) : a, wliole plant, one-third natural size; 
b, seed capsule, natural size. 



35 



The large flowering spurge {E. corollata) and the ipecac spurge {E. 
ipecacuanhae) produce the same eflect as the above species, but not so 
frequently and only to a minor degree. The effect of all is to be coun- 
teracted in the same way as the effect of the caper spurge. Children 
should be especially warned against handling them. 

SUMAC FAMILY (ANACARDIACEAE). 

POISON IVY, POISON OAK, AND POISON SUMAC. 

Iihu8. 

Woody perennials, with alternate, mostly compound leaves and 
small greenish-white or yellowish flowers. All the well-known species 
with an upright terminal cluster 
of colored fruit are harmless. 

POISON IVY. 
Rhus radicans L. 

Other names : Poison oak ; poi- 
son vine; three-leafed ivy ; poison 
creeper; mercury or markry (N. 
H. and N. J.); black mercury 
(Me.); mark weed (Me.); pickry 
(Me.). (Fig. 17.) 

Description and habitat. — A 
climbing or trailing shrub (some- 
times erect), with variable three- 
foliate leaves, aerial rootlets, 
and greenish flowers, appearing 
in May and June. The smooth, 
waxy fruit often remains on tbe 
plant until late in winter. The 
leaves often resemble those of 
the box elder, as in the ttgure; 
but their margin is not seldom 
almost entire. They difler from 
those of the Virginia creeper 
in having only three leaflets 
instead of five. Poison ivy 
grows everywhere in open brush, 
in ravines, and on the borders 
of woods, and it is spread along 
roadsides and cultivated fields from seeds carried by crows, wood- 
peckers, and other birds that feed upon its fruit in winter. The plant 
occurs abundantly throughout the United States as far west as eastern 
Texas, eastern Kansas, and Minnesota, and in greater or less abundance 
throughout the less arid region of the West, with the exception of Cali- 
fornia, where it appears to be entirely replaced by Rhus diversiloba. 




Ficj. 17. — Poison ivy (Rhus radicans) : a, spray show- 
ing aerial rootlets and leaves; b, fruit — both one- 
fourth natural size. 



36 



POISON OAK. 

Bhus diversiloba Torr. &, Gr. 

Othernames: Poison ivy; yeara; California poisou sumac. (Fig. 18.) 

Description and habitat. — The poison oak differs from tlie preceding 

species mainly in the character of its leaflets, which are somewhat 

thicker and smaller, more nearly 
elliptical, and less sharply lobed. 
Their similarity to the leaves of the 
Western oaks gives the i)lant its 
common name. The i)oison oak 
thrives best on cool westward moun- 
tain slopes and in ravines, but is 
quite generally si)read throughout 
the Pacific coast from Lower Cali- 
fornia and Arizona to British 
America. It does not, however, 
frequent the higher mountains. 



POISON SUMAC. 
Bhus vernix L. 

Other names : Swamp sumac ; dog- 
wood (Mass.); poison dogwood; poi- 
son elder (Ala.); j)oisou ash (Vt.); 
l^oisou tree; i)oison wood; poison 
swamp sumac; thunderwood (Ga., 
Va.). (Fig. 19.) 

Description and habitat. — An ar- 
borescent shrub to 30 feet high, 
with long, x^innate leaves having 
from 7 to 13 entire leaflets. The wood has a faint sulphurous odor, 
which, together with the leaf scars, which are very prominent^ enables 
one to distinguish the plant from other shrubbery in winter. It grows 
in swamps and in damp woods from Florida to Canada and westward 
to Louisiana. 

Each of these species produces about the same efl'ect on the human 
skin. It will therefore be sufficient to consider the most widely known 
representative of the group, viz, Rhus radicans, the poison i\'y. 

Poisonous character. — No plant of the United States is more popularly 
recognized as harmful to man than this. Its effects are familiar to 
everyone, and, as its victims far outnumber those of all other plants 
combined, it has come to be regarded as the i)oisonous plant of America. 
Until recently no one was able to tell how its effects were produced or 
to what principle they were due. At the beginning of the present cen- 
tury it was supposed to be a vapor or exiialation from the plant; then, 
with successive stages in the develo[)ment of chemistry and biology, it 
was attributed to a sx)ecitic gas, a volatile alkaloid, a volatile acid, and 




Fig. 18. — Poison o:ik (lihiis diversiloba), showiii 
leaves, llowei-s, and fruit, one-third natural size. 



37 



to bacteria. Experiments seemed to verify each of these ideas in turn 
but that all were erroneous has recently been shown by the discovery 
that the poison is in reality a nonvolatile oil. In January, 1895, Dr. 
Franz Pfaff, of the Harvard University Medical School, announced this 
discovery. The oil has since been purified and named toxicodendrol. 
It is found in all parts of the plant, even in the wood after long dryino-. 
Like all oils, it is insoluble in 
water, and can not therefore 
be washed off' the skin with 
water alone. It is readily re- 
moved by alcohol. Alkalies 
sai)onify it and thus render it 
inert, but the oil is very much 
more easily destroyed, as 
Pfaff" has shown, by an alco- 
holic solution of the sugar of 
lead (lead acetate). 

Effect of the poison. — N^umer- 
ous experiments show con- 
clusively that the oil j^roduces 
precisely the same eftfect as 
does the plant itself. When 
avery minute amount is placed 
nj^on the skin it is gradually 
absorbed in the course of a 
day or so, and within certain 
limits the effect is proportional 
to the time of contact. In an 
experiment performed by the 
writer the oil was applied to 
four places on the left wrist, 
and these were carefully 
guarded to prevent spread- 
ing. At the end of an hour 
one of the spots was thor- 
oughly washed by successive 
applications of alcohol; in 
three hours the oil from a sec- 
ond was washed off'in the same 
manner, and the others were cleansed three hours later. There was 
little or no effect on the first; that on the second was more marked, 
but did not equal that produced on the last two, which was about 
the same in each. The spots were within an inch of each other, 
but remained wholly distinct, a fact which very clearly shows that the 
affection is not spread by the blood. Subsequent applications of an 
alcoholic solution of sugar of lead gave speedy and permanent relief. 

Remedies. — In practice it is not desirable to use strong alcohol, which 




Fig. 19. — Poison sumac {liluis vernlx), showiug leaves, 
fruit, and leaf-scars, one-fourth natural size. 



38 

is apt to be too irritating to a sensitive surface, but a weaker grade of 
from 50 to 75 per cent should be preferred. To this the powdered sugar 
of lead is to be added until no more will easily dissolve. The milky 
fluid should then be well rubbed into the affected skin, and the opera- 
tion repeated several times during the course of a few days. The itch- 
ing is at once relieved and the further spread of the eruption is checked. 
The remedy has been tried in a large number of cases and has always 
proved successful. It must be remembered, however, that the lead 
solution is itself very poisonous if taken internally. 

Much has been said in regard to the relative poisonous character of 
these three plants. It has been generally claimed that the poison 
sumac is the most poisonous, and that after it comes, first, the poison 
ivy and then the poison oak. These conclusions were arrived at from 
the occasional experience of individuals who were iwisoned by handling 
one sj)ecies when supposedly immune to others. Experience teaches, 
however, that immunity is somewhat variable in the same individual, 
and therefore these general statements can liot be accepted without 
more careful experimental evidence. 

Restrictive and preventive measures. — It is highly desirable that legal 
measures be adopted compelling the destruction of these plants 
where they abound iu places of popular resort. This can be man- 
aged without much danger from the poison, and is a matter of very 
general public interest. As has just been noted, many individuals 
are practically immune from the effects of toxicodendrol. Advantage 
should be taken of this fact to employ such individuals to remove these 
plants from the vicinity of dwellings and from playgrounds. Much 
of the work would be purely mechanical, consisting in rooting the 
plants up by main force. This is the most certain method; the use 
of concentrated sulphuric acid is attended with less danger, as the 
plants do not need to be touched. A half teaspoonful should be applied 
to the stem every two or three weeks in the springtime when the plant 
is growing most vigorously. Care should be taken to keep the acid 
away from the skin, as it is most highly corrosive. The brush should 
in no case be left upon the ground nor used for fuel, and in burning it 
in the field pains should be taken not to inhale the smoke nor to handle 
the wood any more than necessary. 

The greatest care should be exercised in preventing workmen from 
transferring the oil from their clothes and hands to other individuals. 
To accomplish this object special suits should be worn, and the hands 
should be washed several times a day with the alcoholic sugar of lead 
solution described above. Bathing in hot water with strong soapsuds 
is also strongly recommended. The clothing must also be well washed, 
and it is always well to remember that towels may be a means of 
conveying the oil. 



39 



BUCKEYE FAMILY (SAPINDACEAE). 

RED BUCKEYE. 

Aescidus pavia L. 

Other names: Small buckeye; buckeye: horse-chestnut. (Fig-. 20.) 

Description and habitat. — A slirub 8 to 12 feet high with opposite, loug- 
stemmed leaves, and numerous clusters of bright red flowers, which 
appear in March. The fruit is smooth even when young; the seeds are 
mahogany- colored and are elegantly polished. The red buckeye is 
native in fertile valleys from Virginia to Florida, throughout the Gulf 
States to Louisiana, and in 
Arkansas. It is sparingly rep- 
resented in Missouri, Tennes- 
see, Kentucky, and West Vir- 
ginia. It is cultivated to some 
extent in Pennsylvania. 

Poisonous character. — The 
poisonous constituent is nearly 
identical with that of the corn 
cockle, and it is found espe- 
cially in the young shoots and 
in the seed. The records of its 
poisonous action are mostly 
confined to its use as a means 
of procuring fish, but cattle 
are often killed by eating the 
fruit. It was formerly, and 
perhaps is still, the practice to 
stir the bruised seeds or twigs 
into small ponds and gather 
the stuxjefied fish by hand as 
they rise to the surface. When 
thoroughly cooked these fish 
are quite wholesome. 

Uses. — Other species of buckeye are used in medicine and in domes- 
tic economy. They all have a similar action and probably contain the 
same poison. Of these species the best known is the true horse chest- 
nut {Aeseulus Mppocastanum). Its bark and nuts are used as a snuff 
to promote nasal discharge and as a wash for indolent ulcers. The 
nut itself is used as a salve with lard, or as a wash, for rheumatism. 
The nut shell is narcotic. In England the fruit is fed to animals, but 
only after the removal of the poison by thorough washing with alkali 
and water and then boiling. Cases of poisoning have arisen from over- 
doses in medicine. The Ohio buckeye {Aeseulus glabra) is regarded as 
intermediate between the above species in its poisonous qualities. 
Overdoses in medicine produce nearly the same symptoms as corn 




Km. 20. — Red buckej'e (Aeseulus pavia) : «, flowering 
branch; 6, seed — botli two-ninths natural size. 



40 

cockle. The fruit of the California buckeye {Aesculus californica) is 
sometimes made iuto soup aud bread by the Round "Valley Indians 
after removing the poison by roasting and leaching. The fruit of all 
the species furnishes an excellent grade of starch when properly treated. 
The roots and fruit of some have been sometimes used in place of soap. 




CARROT FAMILY (APIACEAE). 

WATER HEMLOCK. 
Ciciita maciiJata L. 

Othernames: American water hemlock ; wild hemlock; spotted hem 
lock; spotted parsley; snakeweed; beaver i:)oison; musquash root 

muskrat weed; cowbane; spot 
ted cowbane; children's bane 
death of man. (Fig. 21.) 

Description and habitat. — A 
smooth, erect, perennial, 3 to 8 
feet high, with a rigid, hollow 
stem, numerous branches, finely 
dissected leaves, white tlowers, 
and a cluster of spindle-shaped 
roots, which vary in length from 
li to 3 inches, and are very 
characteristic of the plant. It 
grows commonly in swamps aud 
damp soil, throughout the At- 
lantic States, westward to Lou- 
isiana, Iowa, and Minnesota; 
much less commonly nortliwest- 
ward through Nebraska, to the 
Ivocky Mountains, and in New 
Mexico. 

Poisonous property. — Its poi- 
sonous property resides in an 
aromatic, oily fluid, which is 
found chietiy in the root, but 
also in the stem, seeds, and 
leaves. Its true chemical na- 
ture is not exactly known, but 
it is highly probable that it contains the alkaloid conine, and the bitter 
principle cicutoxin, the latter of which is characteristic of the Eurojiean 
water hemlock ( Cicuta rirosa). Both are powerful poisons, but the latter 
is the more violent and produces most of the symptoms characteristic 
of the plant. The American water hemlock is one of tlie most poison- 
ous plants native to the United States. Its victims include both man 



^\ 



Fig. 21. — Water Lerulock (Cicvta inacvlnta), sliowinj; 
sectiou of spindle-shaped roots aud lower stem, the 
leaves, flowers, aud fruit, one-balf uatural size; also 
fruit and cross sectiou of seed, enlarged five times. 



41 



and aDimals. The underground parts are the most poisonous, and are 
especially dangerous, because they are often washed or frozen out of 
the soil and thus exposed to view. Children mistake them for horse- 
radish, parsnips, artichokes, sweet cicely, and other edible roots. 
Cattle sometimes eat the tubers, and in marshes they are poisoned by 
drinking water contaminated by the juice of roots which have been 
crushed by being trampled upon. No estimate can be made of the 
amount of damage done to live stock, but it is very considerable. The 
human victims average a considerable number per annum. In the 
State of New Jersey alone, as earlier mentioned, two quadruple cases 
were reported during the spring 
of 180G, which resulted in the 
death of two iiulividuals. 

Symptoms and antidote. — The 
prominent symptoms are vomit- 
ing, colicky i)ains, staggering, 
unconsciousness, and frightful 
convulsions, ending in death. As 
no chemical antidote is known, 
the treatment must consist in a 
thorough cleansing of the diges- 
tive tract, and in combating the 
symptoms as they arise by the 
use of chloroform, chloral, and 
such medicines as are indicated 
during the progress of the malady. 
Herbivorous animals generally 
die from the effects of a sufficient 
dose, but they are sometimes saved 
by the administration of two or 
three daily doses of melted lard. 

OREGON WATER HEMLOCK. 
Cieuta vagans Greene. 

Other names: Water hemlock; 
cieuta. (Fig. 22.) 

Description and habitat. — A 
smooth perennial, with erect or 
straggling stems 3 to feet high, 
glaucous, compound leaves which 
spring directly from the ground, white flowers blossoming in July and 
August, and a fleshy root which consists of two very distinct and charac- 
teristic parts. The more conspicuous of these is the vertical rootstock, 
which is from 1 to 6 inches long by 1 or 2 thick, and is curiously divided 
into nu7nerous chambers by horizontal partitions. Each of the latter 
bears several tubes or ducts, from which a poisonous aromatic oil 




FlO. 22. — Oregon water hemlock (Cieuta vayans): 
a, plant with leaves, one-sixth natural size; b 
and b', rootstock and horizontal roots, showing 
section, half size; c, terminal leaflets, one-sixth 
natural size ; d, flowering spray, full size. 



42 

exudes when the bulb is cut. The tubes are larger and more numerous 
in the outer walls. The rootstock furnishes the bulk of the poisou. 
The other portion of the root consists of solid, fleshy fibers, which run 
along on, or just under, the surface of the soil, and send off numerous 
rootlets from beneath. The rootstock rots or dwindles away almost 
entirely before the seeds mature, but fresh ones are formed from it for 
the next season's growtli. The i)laut grows in wet or marshy places, 
and ranges from British Columbia and Idaho southward to northeastern 
California, and perhaps to the southern Sierra Nevada. 

Cases of poisoning. — Cases of cattle poisoning have been reported from 
Victoria, British Columbia, Colby, Wash., from various parts of Oregon, 
and from northern California. Prof. LT. P. Hedrick, of Corvallis, Oreg., 
who has investigated cases of poisoning from this plant, believes that 
more than one hundred cattle are killed by it every year in Oregon. 
A piece of the winter rootstock the size of a walnut was found to be 
fatal to a cow. A piece the size of a marble is looked upon as danger- 
ous to man. Human cases are not numerous, but a few have been 
reported where individuals nibbled at the root through curiosity. 

The Oregon water hemlock has often been mistaken for the preced- 
ing species and also for Cicuta virosa L., but neither of these occur in 
the far Northwestern States. Some other plants that are mistaken for 
it are the so-called "wild celery" {Oerianthe sarmentosa), Oregon sweet 
cicely {Glycosma ambi<jiia), and poison hemlock {Conium maculatnm). 
These are all easily distinguished by the root, which in no case resem- 
bles the one here figured. 

Antidotes. — All that is stated under the water hendock with regard 
to its poisonous constituents, symptoms, and antidotes may be applied 
also to this plant. It is likewise iu need of chemical examination. 

Other species. — To these two species there are to be added a few others 
which have been suspected in cases of j)oisoning and which have the 
same effects. As stated above, Cicuta virosa, the species which is 
particularly known to be poisonous in Europe, does not seem to occur 
in the United States. Specimens sent from Hon. J. R. Anderson, 
deputy minister of agriculture of British Columbia, do seem, however, 
to belong to this species. We are informed that several cases of poi- 
soning have occurred there which were due to eating its fine fibrous 
roots, which were mistaken for those of a similar aromatic plant, 
Ligusticum scoticum, the long rootlets of which are much sought after 
by the French Canadians under the name "queue des rats." Cicuta 
huJhifera is found in the Great Lakes States, iu West Virginia, New 
Jersey, and northwards. C. holanderi is the largest of all the species, 
often attaining a height of 10 feet. It is found only locally near the 
bay of San Francisco. These species grow best in damp, marshy soil, 
and resemble the preceding in their general appearance. They are 
best distinguished botauically by the character of their underground 
parts. 



43 



When these plants occupy large areas the only safeguard for cattle 
is to keep them on other pastures, especially when they are hungry. 
The plants may be destroyed by hand pulling when they occur in small 
quantities near dwelliugs or playgrounds. 

POISON HEMLOCK. 
Conium maciilatum L. 

Other names: Hemlock; wild hemlock; spotted parsley; stinkweed; 
herb beuuet; poison root; poison snakeweed; cashes; wode- whistle. 
(Fig. 23.) 

Description and habitat— A smooth, purple spotted, hollow-stemmed 
biennial, 2 to 7 feet high, with large parsley-like leaves and showy 
clusters of small white flowers 
which appear in July and Au- 
gust. The seed is prominently 
ridged and has on its inner sur- 
face a deep, narrow, longitudi- 
nal groove. The fresh leaves 
have an extremely nauseating 
taste, and when bruised emit a 
very characteristic mouse like 
odor. Poison hemlock is native 
tO'Europe and Asia, but has be- 
come naturalized in the United 
States, and is rather frefjuent 
or common on waysides and in 
waste places in New York, West 
Virginia, Tennsylvania, New 
Jersey, and Ohio, and not rare in 
the New England States and in 
Michigan. It is infretpient in 
Wisconsin, Illinois, Louisiana, 
and California, but in some lo- 
calities in the latter State it has 
a very rank growth. 

Character of the poison. — The 
characteristic poison of the hem- 
lock is the well-known volatile alkaloid, conine, which is found in the 
seeds, and, especially at flowering time, in the leaves. Tlie root is nearly 
harmless in March, April, and May, but is dangerous afterwards, 
especially during the first year of its growth. The poison hemlock is 
the most generally known poisonous i^lant historically, it being without 
much doubt the plant administered by the Greeks to Socrates and 
other state prisoners. Eeceut cases of poisoning have arisen acci- 
dentally from eating the seed for that of anise, the leaves for parsley, 
or the roots for parsnips; also from blowing whistles uade from the 




Fig. 23. — Poison hemlock (Conium mactilattnn), 
sbowiug upper portion of plant with flower.s anil 
seed, one-third natural size. 



44 

hollow stems. It has recently been shown that some of the anise seed 
in both foreign and domestic markets is ignorantly adulterated with 
hemlock seeds, but it is not known whether serious consequences have 
resulted therefrom. 

Symptoms of poisoning.— The symptoms in man are such as are due to 
a general and gradual weakening of muscular power. The power of 
sight is often lost, but the mind usually remains clear until death 
ensues, as it soon does from the gradual paralysis of the lungs. The 
poisoning differs from that of the water hemlock {Ciciita macnlata) 
iu the absence of convulsions. The professional treatment recom- 
mended is the use of the stomach pump or emetics, tannin (tea, oak 
bark), stimulants, warmth at extremities, artificial respiration, and the 
subcutaneous injection of atropine. Many domestic animals have been 
killed by eating the plant, the prominent symptoms described for cows 
being loss of appetite, salivation, bloating, much bodily pain, loss of 
muscular power, and rapid, feeble pulse. 

As this plant does not occur in great quantities anywhere in the 
United States, it may best be annihilated by hand-pulling before 
maturity. 

HEATH FAMILY (ERICACEAE). 

BROAD-LEAF LAUREL. 

Kahnia latifoHa L. 

Other names: Laurel (north of Md.); ivy (south of Md.); mountain 
laurel; sheep laurel; i^oison laurel; wood laurel; small laurel; rose 
laurel; high laurel; round-leaf laurel; American laurel ; poison ivy; 
ivy bush; mountain ivy; ivy wood; big ivy; big-leaved ivy; calico 
bush; spoon wood; spoon hunt; kalmia; wicky. (Fig. 24.) 

Description and habitat. — A tine shrub, usually 4 to 8, but sometimes 
30 to 40 feet high. It has thick, flat, and shining leaves, showy 
clusters of peculiarly shaped, viscid, and mostly inodorous pink flowers, 
which aijpear in May and June, and a globular, viscid, dry, and inedible 
fruit. It grows abundantly on rocky hillsides, in cattle ranges, and on 
mountain slopes np to 3,000 or 4,000 feet, from Connecticut to eastern 
Ohio and along the Alleghanies to Georgia and Alabama; less abund- 
antly in the New England and Southern States as far as Louisiana and 
Arkansas. 

Poisonous constituent. — The active constituent, andromedotoxin (from 
the name of a closely related genus, Andromeda), is found in all parts 
of the plant with the exception of the wood. It is a peculiar crystal- 
line substance, easily dissolved out of the plant by cold water or by 
alcohol. It i* extremely poisonous, more so even than strychnine. 

Victims. — Scores of cattle and sheep are poisoned annually by eating 
the shrub. Access to it is generally obtained by breaking away from 
inclosures, or through neglect or accident when cattle or sheep are 
being driven past laurel thickets to upland pastures in early spring. 



45 



Laurel leaves (commouly used for decorative purposes iu winter), or 
the flowering brandies, are often carelessly thrown into iuclosures 
where animals are kept. The older cattle are not so frequently killed 
by it, but they are by no means immune. Horses and even goats have 
died from eating the leaves, and in May, 1895, a monkey was killed at 
the National Zoological Park, at Washington, D. C, by eating a few 
flowers and leaves offered to it by a visitor. Deer and grouse are said 
to be immune, and it is claimed that their flesh, especially that of the 
ruffed grouse, is poisonous when they have fed upon it. It is stated 
that chickens have been ])oisoiied by eating the vomited matter from 
poisoned animals. Experiments 
show, however, that they are able 
to withstand considerable quan- 
tities of the pure poison when it 
is fed to them. In these experi- 
ments the chickens were killed 
with chloroform after dosing for 
a few days. The entrails were 
then cast aside, and the well- 
boiled meat was fed to cats with 
nearly fatal results. The honey 
derived from the nectar of the 
flower appears to be poisonous 
under some conditions. Cases of 
human poisoning occur indirectly 
in the ways indicated above; 
directly by overdoses, or improper 
use in domestic medicine, prob- 
ably by the secret and criminal 
use of the leaves to increase the 
intoxicating effects of liquors, 
and, in children, by their eating 
the young shoots by mistake for 
the wintergreen {Gaultheria pro- 
cumbens). 

Symptoms and antidote. — The general symptoms in sheep may be taken 
as representative for those m cows and goats. They are as follows: 
Persistent nausea, with slight but long-continued vomiting and attempts 
to vomit, frothing at mouth, grating of teeth, irregular breathing, 
partial or complete loss of sight and feeling, dizziness, inability to stand, 
extreme drowsiness, coma, and death. The irregularity of the respira- 
tion is most characteristic, being present throughout the main part of 
the attack. In addition to most of the above effects there is, in man, 
severe pain in the head, an increased tendency to perspire, and often a 
peculiar tingling sensation in the skin throughout the entire body. 
Vomiting is very copiously produced, and consequently the effects are 




Flu. 24. — Broail-leaf laurel (Kabnia lati/olia) : a, 
flowei-iug spray, one-third natural size ; b, vertical 
section of flower showing pucuiiar attachment of 
stamens, natural size; c, fruiting capsules, 
natural size. 



46 

generally less severe than iu animals. Respiratory stimulants, such as 
atropine and strychnine, should be given as antidotes by competent 
medical authorities. Oil, melted lard, or fat from bacon may be 
administered to animals by anyone with hoi)es of saving life, especially 
if offered when the symptoms are first noted. As a chemical antidote 




Fig. 25. — Narrow-leaf 
laurel (Ealmia amjus- 
tifolia), sbowiug flow- 
ering branch, one- 
third natural size. 




Flu. 26.— Great laurel (lihododendron maximum): 
a, flowering branch ; h, fruiting capsules — both 
one-third natural size. 



to be tried by physicians in cases of human jjoisoning, the writer sug- 
gests the internal use of a 1 per cent alkaline solution of permanganate 
of potash. 

The broad-leaf laurel is typical in its effects of a half dozen or more 
native species of the heath family. They are all poisonous in the 
same way, because they all contain the same toxic substance, andro- 
medotoxin. Many fatalities are recorded against the following: 



NARROW-LEAF LAUREL. 

Kalmia angustifolia L. 



Othernames: Sheep laurel; lambkill; sheep poison; lamb laurel ; dwarf 
sheep laurel; small laurel; low laurel; dwarf laurel; wicky. (Fig. 25.) 

Description and habitat. — Like the preceding, but smaller, only 2 to 4 
feet high, with smaller, thinner, and narrower leaves, and smaller flow- 



47 

ers clustered uot at the extreme end of the stem, but at the base of 
the fresh shoots. It is abundant at low altitudes in both dry and wet 
soils from Maine to New Jersey; less abundant westward throughout 
the Great Lakes region and southward to Tennessee and South 
Carolina. 

GREAT LAUREL. 
Rhododendron maximum L. 

Other names: Laurel (south of Pa.); rosebay; mountain laurel; rho- 
dodendron; wild rosebay; American rosebay; big laurel (Pa.); big-leaf 




Fig. 27. — Stagger-bush (Pifrin mariana), showing 
flowering branch, oue-lhird natural size. 



Fig. 28 Branch ivy (Leucolboe cateshaei): 

flowering brancli ; b, I'niiting capsules. 



laurel (Pa.); horse laurel (Pa.); deer tongue; cow plant (Vt.); spoon 
hutch (N. H.). (Fig. 2(3.) 

Description and habitat. — A large evergreen bush or small tree, 10 to 
20 or 30 feet high, with thick leaves, 4 to 10 inches long, and splendid 
clusters of large, inodorous pale pink or nearly white flowers, blossom- 
ing in July. A commonly cultivated ornamental tree, native to the 
Alleghany Mountains, but extending northward in isolated patches to 
Connecticut and New Hampshire. 



48 

STAGGER BUSH. 
Pieris mariana (L.) Beuth. & Hook. 

Other name: Kill lamb. (Fig. 27.) 

Description and habitat. — A weak-limbed deciduous shrub, 2 to 4 feet 
high, with thick couspicuously veined leaves and showy clusters of 
tubular white flowers. It is frequent in low, damp soils near the coast 
from Connecticut to Florida. 



BRANCH IVY. 

Leucothoe catesbaei (Wiilt.) A. Gray. 

Other names: Hemlockj calf kill; leucothoe; dog laurel. (Fig. 28.) 
Description and habitat— An evergreen shrub, 2 to 4 feet high, with 
thick, tapering, sharply saw edged leaves and numerous axillary and 

terminal clusters of small white, 
tubular, ill-smelling flowers, which 
appear in April or May. It grows 
abundantly, often forming dense 
thickets along stream banks in the 
Alleghany Mountains from West 
Virginia to northern Georgia. 

LOGANIA FAMILY (LOGANIA- 
CEAE). 

FALSE JESSAMINE. 
Gelsemimn stmpervirens L. 

Other names: Yellow jessamine; 
yellow jessamine of the South; 
wild jessamine; Carolina jasmine; 
woodbine; Carolina wild wood- 
bine; evening trumpet- flower. 
(Fig. 29.) 

Description and habitat. — A 
woody vine, often climbing over 
shrubbery and trees to the height 
of 30 feet or more. It has small, 
evergreen leaves and large, fra- 
grant, yellow flowers, 1 to 1^ 
inches long, which appear in 
March and April. It grows in 
woods and low grounds, from eastern Virginia and southern Tennessee 
to the Gulf, and southwestward into Mexico. The false jessamine 
belongs to a family from which, in other regions, strychnine and the 
dreaded arrow poison, curare, are obtained. Another species of the 




Fig. 29 — False jessamine (Gelsemivm sempervi- 
rens), showing flowefing spray, one-third natural 
size. 



49 

same ^enus, G. elcf/ans, is said to liave beeu formerly used at Hougkong 
to put criminal otteiiders to death. 

Poisonous element. — A i)oisoiioiis alkaloid, gelsemiue, is found in the 
bark of the root of the false jessamine, and it probably exists also in 
the leaves and flowers. The root is used largely in medicine, and poison- 
ing has been caused many times by overdoses and by mistaking the 
drug for other household remedies. Accidental cases seldom happen 
in the field, either with man or animals. One alleged case is, however, 
especially worthy of mention. Three persons died at Branchville, S. 0., 
in 1885, supposedly from the effects of honey derived from the jessa- 
mine. The medical journals, in reporting the case, stated that a large 
(piantity of gelsemiue was found in a sample of the honey used, and 
this has been generally accej^ted as a fact. Special inquiry made by 
the Division of Botany has, however, revealed the fact that the honey 
was not subjected to chemical analysis, and that the diagnosis was 
based entirely upon the symptoms. Such conclusions are indefinite, 
and since no similar fatalities have subsequently beeu noted, the real 
cause of the above case is still an open question. 

Symptoms and remedy. — The symptoms produced by overdoses are 
nausea, with iuettective attempts to vomit, pain in brows and eyeballs, 
dimness of vision, double vision, a pronounced weakness of the muscles, 
staggering, suffb{;ation, and death by paralysis of the lungs. Imme- 
diate and permanent relief has been obtained b3' the use of a strong 
current'of electricity. The symptoms have also been ofl'set by the pro- 
fessional use of wild hemlock (Conium mai-nlatum) and atropine. The 
stomach pump and coflee are eftfective when used in conjunction with 
whisky. Artificial respiration should be maintained throughout the 
treatment. 

POTATO FAMILY (SOL AN ACE AE). 

JIMSON -WEEDS. 

Datura. 

Description and habitat. — Hank, ill-smelling plants, with large funnel- 
shaped flowers and prickly four-valved seed pods. They are mostly 
weeds which have been introduced into the United States from Europe 
and tropical America. 

.JIM80N WEED. 
Datura slramoiiium ]j. 

Other names. — Jamestown weed; common stramonium; thorn apple; 
apple of Peru; devil's apple; mad apple; stinkwort; stinkweed (W. 
Va.); Jamestown lily [N. 0.); white man's plant (by Indians). 
(Fig. 30.) 

Description and habitat. — A stout, smooth, bushy annual 2 to 5 feet 
high, with a coarse green stem, large flaccid leaves, and white, heavy- 
scented flowers 2 to 4 inches long. The flowers appear from May to 
17090— iTo. 20 4 



50 



September, and the fruit ripens from August to November, according 
to latitude. Tlie seeds are numerous and about the size of a grain of 
buckwheat. When fresh they are ill-scented and nauseating, but later 
they are not so disagreeable. The nectar is sweet, but a little nauseat- 
ing. The jimson weed is native to Europe and Asia, but is now quite 
commonly introduced in waste grounds about dwellings in all of the 
States east of Iowa and Louisiana with, perhaps, the exception of 

"Minnesota. It is common in east- 
ern Kansas and Nebraska, in some 
parts of Colorado, and has prob- 
ably obtained some foothold in all 
of the Western States. 

JIMSON WEED. 
Datura laiida L. 



Other names : Jamestown weed ; 
pnrple thorn apple; common stra- 
monium ; thorn apple; mad apple; 
.stinkroot; stiukweed. 

Description and hahitat. — A 
somewhat taller plant, with pur- 
plishHowers and stems, butother- 
wise x)ractically identical with the 
preceding, both in botanical and 
toxic characters. Geographical- 
ly, it is more abundant toward 
the South and West than the 
other. 

Poisonous elements. — The poison- 
ous alkaloids, atropine and hyos- 
cyamine, the active constituents 
of belladonna {Atro2)<i heUadon- 
na), are found also in both of the 
jimson weeds. Hyoscyamine is 
the poison of the henbane {Hyoscyamus niger), and as it is identical in 
its physiological action with atropine, the above-named plants i)resent 
the same symptoms of poisoning, which must be met in the same man- 
ner. The alkaloids exist in all parts of the two daturas. The seeds are 
especially poisonous. 

How poisoning is produced. — Oases of poisoning arise in adults from 
excessive use as a stimulant or as a medicine. Children are sometimes 
tempted to eat the fruit, if they are permitted to play where the weed 
is to be found. Several cases of this kind were reported to the Depart- 
ment during the fall of 1897. At Al})ena, Mich., five children were 
badly poisoned in August by eating the seeds of the purple-flowered 
species, which was cultivated in a garden as a curiosity under the fan- 




FiG. 30. — Jimson weed (Datura atramonium) : a, 
Howeriufj sjn-ay; h, fruiting capsule — both oue- 
third natural size. 



51 

ciful trade name of "Night- blooming Cactus." In September a boy 
was killed in New York by eating the seeds of the jimson weed, which 
was permitted to grow in a vacant lot; his brother poisoned at the 
same time was saved only with difficulty. In October two other cases 
occurred in New York. Four children were playing in one of the public 
parks of the city where jimson weeds were growing luxuriantly. The 
boys imagined themselves Indians and roamed about and ate parts of 
various plants. Three of them ate the seeds of the Jimson weed. One 
died in a state of wild delirium; another was saved after heroic treat- 
ment with chloral hydrate and morphine; the third, who ate but few of 
the seeds, was but little affected. Children are also poisoned by suck- 
ing the flower, or playing with it in the mouth. The fresh green leaves 
and also the root have occasionally been cooked by mistake for other 
wild edible plants. One or two instances are recorded in which cattle 
have been poisoned by eating the leaves of young plants which were 
present in grass hay, but these animals generally either avoid the 
plants or are very resistant to its poison. 

Symptoms and treatment. — The symptoms of the poisoning are about 
the same in all cases, those characteristic of large doses being head- 
ache, vertigo, nausea, extreme thirst, dry, burning skin, and general 
nervous confusion, with dilated pupils, loss of sight and of voluntary 
motion, and sometimes mania, convulsions, and death. In smaller 
amounts the effects are like those of the ordinary narcotics. As vomit- 
ing is not a common symptom, the contents of the stomach must be 
quickly removed by the use of the stomach tube or emetics. It is well 
then to wash out that organ thoroughly with strong tea, tannic acid, or 
an infusion of oak bark, and to administer stimulants, such as brandy 
and hot, strong coffee. Pilocarpine is recommended by physicians to 
counteract the drying effect upon the secretions (licorice is very useful), 
and prolonged artificial respiration must often be resorted to to main- 
tain the aeration of the blood. 

Datura meteloides is a very large-flowered species, which is native 
from southern California to Texas, and in some localities is common in 
cultivation. No cases of poisoning have yet been recorded against it, 
but it is largely used as an intoxicant by Indians, and is used in gen- 
eral for the same purposes as jimson weed. It undoubtedly contains 
the same poisons. 

The jimson weeds should be removed from the vicinity of dwellings 
and from play grounds by mowing the plants down while in flower or 
by cultivating the soil. 

NIGHTSHADES. 

Solatium. 

Annual or perennial herbs or shrubs with 5-lobed wheel-shaped co- 
rollas; stamens protruding in the form of a cylinder, loosely coherent 
at the apex; and a fleshy fruit or berry containing numerous flat seeds. 



52 



BLACK NIGHTSHADE. 

Solanum iiir/i-mn L. 

Other names: Cominon nightshade; iii<;htshade; deadly nightshade; 
garden nightshade. (Fig. 31.) 

Description and habitat. — A smooth annual, 1 to li feet high, Avith rough- 
angular, widely branching stems; ovate leaves, _{ to 4 inches long, with 
wavy niargins; drooping clusters of small white flowers, and black, 
globose, juicy berries, which ripen from .July until September or Octo- 
ber. The black nightsiiade is a common introduced weed, in rich, 
shaded grounds and fields in all parts of the United States east of 

South Dakota and Arkansas, and in 
wet or damp places westward to the 
Pacific Ocean. 

Poisonous properties. — Solanine, a 
crystalline alkaloid-like compound, 
is present in all parts of the plant, 
including the ripe berry. It is not 
classed as one of the most violent 
poisons, but nevertheless it is de- 
cidedly active in sufficient quantities. 
It is not destroyed by boiling water. 
The amount of solanine presentin any 
given part of the i)lant is not con- 
stant, but varies with the conditions 
of growth. The more musky-odoied 
plants are considered to be the most 
poisonous. In some the amount of 
alkaloid i)resentin the ripe fruit and 
leaves is so small that these parts may 
be, and are, consumed in considera- 
ble quantity without any ill conse- 
quences. Poisoning does sometimes 
follow, but it is not clear whether this 
is due to improper preparation or to 
careless selection of the parts used. 
In Europe cases of human i)oison- 
ing are said to occur in infants over 
whom the plants are hung to induce sleep. The use of black night- 
shade either for food or for the latter purpose is certainly not to be 
recommended without much caution. Cattle seldom eat the plant, but 
cases of poisoning are recorded for calves, sheep, goats, and swine. 

Symptoms and remedies. — The characteristic symptoms are about the 
same in man and in animals. Thej- are: Stupefaction ; staggering; loss 
of speech, feeling, and consciousness; cramps, and sometimes convul- 
sions. The pupil is generally dilated. Death is directly due to a par- 
alysis of the lungs, but fortunately few cases are fatal. The antidotes 




Fio. 31. — Bl.<ick iiijilitsliiiile {Solanum nigrum) 
one-third natural size. 



53 



to be used are the same as for belladonna, viz, emetics, catliartics, and 
stimulants, sucli as whisky, wine, or strong- coffee. An alkaline drink, 
such as a solution of ordinary washing soda, is strongly recommended. 
The plants may easily be killed by cutting them down before the fruit 
matures. 

BITTERSWEET. 

SoJanum dulcamara L. 

Other names: Woody nightshade; bittersweet nightshade; wolf 
grape; violet bloom; scarlet berry; nightshade vine; garden night- 
shade; staff vine; fever twig; 
tetonwort. (Fig. 32.) 

Description and habitat. — A 
climbing, woody, introduced per- 
ennial 3 to or 8 feet high, with 
thin leaves, the lowermost of 
which are ovate or heart shaped, 
the upper more or less spear- 
shaped. The flowers are purple, 
the fruit red. It ripens from 'July 
to October and November. The 
plant thrives best and is common 
along- brooks and ditches from 
Massachusetts to Ohio, less com- 
mon elsewhere in damp ground 
from Maine to North Carolina 
and westward to Wisconsin and 
Missouri. 

Poisonous properties and treat- 
ment. — Besides solauine, this plant 
contains another less poisonous 
compound, dulcamarin, which 
gives it its peculiar bitter-sweet 
taste. Neither of the compounds 
is abundant. The berry, though 
its taste is not remarkably dis 
agreeable, is somewhat i)oisonous, 
and it has been shown that an 
extract of the leaves is moderately so. The plant has nevertheless 
caused some ill effect. The treatment is the same as in case of the above 
species. 

SPREADING NIGHTSHADE. 

Solanum trijtorum Nutt. 

Other name: Wild i)otato. (Fig. 33.) 

Description and habitat. — A smooth, low annual, with rough, angular, 
widely branching stems, 7 to 9-lobed leaves, numerous clusters of 
small white flowers which are grouped in threes, and large green ber- 




Fio. 32. — Bittersweet {Snlamim dulcamara) : a, 
floweriug spray ; b, fruit — both one-third uatiiral 
size. 



54 



ries a half inch or more in diameter. A native of the Great Plains, 
formerly found especially in ''prairie-dog villages," now a garden 
weed, from Arizona and Texas to British America. 

Poisonous character. — Complaints of the poisoning of cattle have been 
sent in to the Department from Nebraska, and experiments on guinea 
pigs show that berries sent in from that State are poisonous. No 
human cases have been reported. The berry is not attractive to the 
eye, but has an agreeable odor and taste. It is therefore to be sus- 
pected in cases of poisoning which occur in localities where the weed is 
abundant. The active constituent is undoubtedly some compound of 
solan ine. 

The plants may be killed by cultivating the soil and cutting them 
down before the seeds are fully grown. The common potato {^olanum 

tuberosum) is a member of this 
group. There is little solanine 
present in it ordinarily, but it does 
exist in considerable quantity in 
tubers that are green from expo- 
sure to the sun and air, and in 
old ones after sprouting. Several 
cases of poisoning are recorded, 
but even in old potatoes the poi- 
son is ordinarily extracted by the 
water which is thrown away from 
them after boiling. The green 
fruits have caused death. 

SUNFLOWER FAMILY (CAR 
DUACEAE). 

SNEEZEWEED. 
Helenium autumnale L. 

Other names: Sneezewort; au- 
tumn sneezewort; autumn 
sneeze- weed ; staggerweed (S. C.) ; 
swamp sunflower ; false sun flower; 
ox eye; yellow star. (Fig. 34.) 

Description and habitat. — A 
smooth, angular, branching per- 
ennial, 1 to 3 feet high, with 
rather thick, lance shaped leaves, 
and a large number of showy yellow flowers which do not api^ear 
until autumn. It grows commonly in moist ground from Connecticut 
to Michigan and Illinois, and southward to the Gulf; less commonly 
northwestward from Louisiana to Oregon and Washington; also in 
Arizona. It has been found at an altitude of 6,000 feet in Nevada. 




Fig. 33. —Spreading iiightsliade (Solanum triflo 
rum), one-third natural size. 



55 



Character. — The whole plaut, especially the flower, is bitter and more 
or less acrid and puugeut. The powdered plant causes violent sneezing 
when inhaled, and it is therefore used in medicine to produce that effect. 
Sheep, cattle, and horses that are unfamiliar with the plaut are often 
poisoned by it when driven to localities where it is abundant. As a 
rule these animals avoid it, but it is said that they sometimes develop 
a taste for it aud are quickly killed by eating it in large quantity. 

Poisonous constituent. — The poi- 
sonous constituent has not been 
closely investigated , but it is known 
that it exists principally in the 
flowers. The young plants appear 
to be only very slightly dangerous. 
In the mature ones the amount 
of poison present seems to vary 
greatly even in the same field. 

Symptoms and remed y. — The 
symptoms, as determined by ex- 
periments made in Mississippi 
upon calves, are an accelerated 
pulse, difficult breathing, stagger- 
ing, and extreme sensitiveness to 
the touch. In fatal cases, death is 
preceded by spasms and convul- 
sions. Melted lard has been used 
with good effect in offsetting the 
action of the poison when given 
before the spasms began. 

Sneezeweed may be best kept 
in check by cultivating the ground 
or by mowing the plants down 
before the time of flowering. 

Over twenty kinds of sneeze- 
weed occur in the United States, 
but only one additional species is strongly suspected of poisoning 
animals in the field. This is the bitterweed of the Gulf States {H. 
tenuifolium). One instance is recorded where several individuals were 
poisoned by eating bread contaminated with its seeds. These were 
thrashed with the wheat in which the plants were growing, and were 
not removed therefrom before its being converted into flour. The 
I)lant is conceded by many to be an indirect source of bitter milk and 
bitter meat in cases where cattle have fed upon it. 




Fia. 34. — Sneezeweed {llelenium atifmnnale), one- 
third natural size. 



IJSTDEX, 



[Page nuinliers in italics indicate headings.] 



Page. 

Aconite ^'3,23 

Aconitum columbianum 22,23 

napellus 17 

Aesculus californica 40 

glabra 3!) 

hippocastaniim 39 

pavia 39 

Agaricaceae 11 

Agaric, fly 12 

Agaricus campestris 13 

Agrostemma gitliago :.'i 

Alsinaeeae ^1 

Amanita U 

bulbous 14 

caesarea 12 

deadly 12 

false orange 12 

fly ;2, 13, 14 

niuscaria 12 

orange 12 

phalloides 13, 14, 15 

Amanita, poison 

verna 

vernal 

Amanitas, deadly 

Anacardiaceae 

Anagallis arvensis 

Auti-sopher plant 

Apiaceae 

Apiiloof Peru 

Aragallus lambertii 

Astragalus molissimus 

Ash, poison 

Atropa belladonna 

Bastard nigelle 

Bear corn 

Beaver poison 

Bittersweet 

nightshade 



Branch ivy i7,4s 

Buckeye 

California 

family 

red 

small 

Bugbane 

Bunch-flower familj' 

Caesalpiniaceae 

Calf kill 

Calico bush 

Caltha palustria 



Page. 

Caper bush 33 

wild 33 

Carduaccae f,4 

Carrot family 40 

Cashes 43 

Cherry 27 

black ^6, 27 

ruui 26 

whiskey .26 

wild 26 

wild black 26 

Chicot 28 

Children's bane 40 

Cicuta 9. 41 

bidl>ifera 42 

bolanderi 42 

maculata 40 

vagaus 41 

virosa 40, 42 

Clover, crini.son JO 

Cockle 21 

Cocklebur 10 

Coflee tree 28 

Colorado loco vetch 30 

Coniuni niacnlatuni 42, 4.5, 49 

Con vallariaceae IS 

Convallaria majalis I8 

Corn cockle -21 

Cowbane 40 

spotted 40 

Cow plant 47 

Cow poison 25 

Crazy weed 29, 30 

Crotalaria sagittalis 31 

Croton setigerus 32 

tiglium 32 

Crowfoot family 32 

Crown of the tield 21 

Crow poison 16 

Cypripedium 19 

hirsutum 19,20 

parviflorum 20 

regiuae 19 

Cy tisus laburnum ? 28 

Daphne mezereum 10 

Datura 49 

meteloides 51 

stramonium 49 

tatiila 50 

Death cup 13, i4, 15 

I Death of man 40 

57 



58 



Page. 

Deer tongue 47 

Delphinium 23 

consolida 24 

decorum 25 

ge yeri 24 

menziesii ^5, 26 

reourvatum 25 

scoijulorum 25 

stapliisagria 24 

tricorne 24 

trolliifoliuni 2o 

Devil's apple 49 

Devil's bite 16 

Digitalis 22 

purpurea ] 0, 18, 22 

Dog's mei'ciiry 32 

Dog^cood, poison 36 

Ducks 19 

Ducksretter 16 

Earth gall 16 

Elder 10 

poison 36 

Ergot 10 

Ericaceae 44 

Euphorbia 32 

corollata 35 

ipecacuanhae 35 

lathy ris 33 

niarginata 32, 34 

Eupliorbiaceae 32 

Evening trumpet flower 48 

False jessamine 48 

Fever twig 53 

Fly killer 12 

Foxglove 10 

Fungi, gill n 

Fungus, fly 12 

Friar's ca]) 22 

Gaultheria procumbens 45 

Gill fungi 11 

Gelsemium aempervirens 48 

Gleditsia triacanthos 28 

Gly cosma ambigua 42 

Gopher plant 33 

Gymnocladus dioica 2S 

Heath, family 44 

Helenium autumnale 54,55 

Hellebore, American ^vllite 16 

American false 16 

false 16,17 

swamp 16 

white 16, 17 

Hemlock 43,48 

poison 42, 43 

spotted 40 

wild 40 

Herb bennet 43 

Hippomane mancinella 32 

Honey locust 28 

Horse-chestnut 39 

Hyoscyamus niger 50 

Indian shoe 20 

Itch weed 16 

Iron hat 22 

Ivy 20,44 

big 44 



Ivy, big-leaved 4 1 

branch 47, 4S 

bush 44 

poison 9, 35, 44 

three-leaved 35 

wood 44 

Jamestown weed 49, 50 

Jamestown lily 49 

Jasmine, Carolina 48 

Jatropha stiniulosa 32 

urens 32 

Jessamine, false 48 

wild 48 

yellow 48 

yellow of the South 48 

Jimson weed 49,50 

Jinison weeds 50 

Kalmia 44 

angustifolia 46 

latifolia 44 

Kentucky coffee tree 28 

Kentticky mahogany 28 

Kill lamb 48 

Laburnum tree 28 

Labrador tea 10 

Lady's slipper 20 

larger yellow J9,20 

showy 19 

smaller yellow 30 

yellow 20 

Lady's slippers 19 

Lambkin 46 

Larkspur S4,25 

dwarf 34 

purple 25 

Larkspurs 23 

Laurel 47 

American 44 

big 47 

big-leaf 47 

broad-leaf 44, 45, 46 

dog 48 

dwarf 46 

dwarf sheep 46 

great 46, 47 

high 44 

horse 47 

lamb 46 

low 46 

mountain 44, 47 

narrow-leaf 46 

poison 44 

rose 44 

round-leaf 44 

sheep 44, 46 

small 44, 46 

wood 44 

Ledum groenlaiidicum 10 

Lepiota naucina 15 

smooth 15 

Leucothiie 48 

catesbaei 47, 4S 

Licheta 21 

Ligusticum scoticum 42 

Lily of the valley IS 

family 18 



59 



Page. 

Loco weed 9, 29, 30 

stenileas ■^^ 

woolly '~^ 

Loganiaceae '^'^ 

Logauia family ^ 

Mad apple 49, 50 

Markry ^^ 

Maikweed ^'^ 

May blossom ^^ 

May lily ^^ 

Melanthaceae ^'' 

Mercurialis perennis 32 

Mercury ^^ 

black 35 

Mezereon ^^ 

Moccasin flower 19, _0 

yellow 20 

Mole i)laut 33 

tree 33 

weed 33 

Monkey flower 20 

Monk.sbood 22 

Mullein pink - 21 

Mushroom H 

common 13 

meadow 1' 

Muskrat weed -10 

Musiiuash root 40 

Narcissus 10 

Nerium oleander 10 

Kerve root 19, 20 

Nervine 20 

female 19 

male 20 

Nightsliade 52 

black 5i 

common 52 

deadly 52 

garden 52, 53 

spreading 53 

vine 53 

woody 53 

Nightsbades f>l 

Oenantlie sarmeutosa 42 

Old maid's pink 21 

Oleander 10 

Orchid family W 

Orchidaceae 19 

Ox eye 54 

Papilionaceae 29 

Parsley, spotted 40, 43 

Pea family 39 

Physic nut, Brazilian 32 

Pick ry 35 

Pieris mariana 47, is' 

Pimpernel 10 

Pink family SI 

Plum 27 

family 26 

Poinsettia 32 

Poison ash 30 

creeper 35 

elder 36 

hemlock 42, 43 

ivy 9,35 

ivy, jioison oak, i)oi8on sumac 35 



Page. 

Poison oak 35, 36" 

root 43 

sumac 35, 3S 

vine ; 35 

wood 36 

Poke, Indian 16 

meadow 16 

root 16 

Potato family 49 

Prunaceae 26 

Prunus, caroliniana 27 

laurocerasu.s 27 

serotina 36, 27 

virginiana 27 

Pup])et root 16 

(Jueue des rats 42 

Ranunculaceae 22 

Eattlebox 31 

Rattleweed 31 

Rhododendron 47 

maximum 47 

Rhus 20, 35 

diversiloba 35, 36" 

radicans 20,35,36 

veruix 36 

Ricinus communis 32 

Rosebay 47 

American 47 

wild 47 

Eo.se catnpion 21 

Sambucus canadensi.s 10 

Sapindaceae 39 

Scarlet borr j' 53 

Senna family 2S 

Sheep poison 46 

Sleepy grass lo 

Slipi)er root 20 

Snakeweed 40 

poison 43 

Snee/.eweed 54, 55 

Sneeze wort 54 

autumn 54 

Snow on the mountain 34 

Solanaceae 49 

Solanum 51 

dulcamara 53 

nigrum 52 

tritlorum 53 

t iiberosum 54 

Spoon hunt 44 

Spoon hutch 47 

Spoonwood 44 

Springwort 33 

Spurge, caper — 3S 

family 32 

garden 33 

myrtle 33 

nettle 32 

Spurges 32 

Staft' vine 53 

Stagger bush 47, 48 

Stagger weed 24, 54 

Stinkroot 50 

Stinkweed 43, 49, 50 

Stink wort 49 

Stipa viridula robuata 10 



60 



Page. 

Storm hat 22 

Stramonium, common 49, 50 

Sumac family S5 

poiaon 35, sv; 

poison swamp 36 

swamp 36 

Sunflower, false 54 

. family 54 

swamp 54 

Sweet cicely, Oregon 42 

Teton wort 53 

Thorn apple 49, 50 

purple 50 

Thunderwood 36 

Toadstool 11 

Tragia nepetaefolia 32 

Trumpet flower, evening 48 

rmbil, yellow 20 

Umble 20 

Uncus, Indian 16 

Valerian, American 20 

Venus's cup 20 

Venus's shoe 20 

Veratrum album 16, 17 

californicum 18 



Page. 

Veratrum virido 1G,\1 

Violet bhiom 53 

"Water hemlock 9, 40, 41 

American 40 

Oregon tl 

Whip-poor-will shoes 19 

White man's plant 49 

Wicky 44, 46 

Wild celery 42 

"Wild hemlock 40 

"Wild pea 30 

"Wintergreen 45 

Wode-whistle 43 

Wolf grape 53 

Wolfsbane 10, 22 

Wolt\s milk 33 

Woodbine 48 

Caroliiia wild 48 

Xanthium cauadcnwe 10 

spinosum 10 

strumarium 10 

Yellows 20 

Tellow star 54 

Tew 9 



}• Mr '08 




ssayoNoo do xyvyan 



